The Spirit of Sevilla
Ah, Sevilla. They say that in the summer it is a city of sunshine and heat, with stone streets through which Spaniards stroll, leisurely enjoying the warmth and the conversation. However, add varied bursts of torrential downpour into the picture and suddenly it’s cold, and people scatter to hide beneath umbrellas and linger in doorways until the rain lets up a little. This is how it has been since I arrived in Spain three days ago, eyes half-shut from jet lag, and feeling very out of place. The taxi driver had to drop me off at the end of my street, since it was far too narrow for her car to go down. I remember walking down the road with my host mom towards her apartment, under the shelter of her umbrella from the rain, well aware of how large my suitcase was compared to the tiny street.
There was so much Spanish already! Neither the taxi driver nor my host mom spoke English, so I had to muster up the courage to speak their language, despite being very rusty. Maybe it was the rain, or all the Spanish, or the fact that it was 5:00am Boston time and I had not yet slept, but I soon found myself asleep in my new bed, taking my first siesta.
In general, though, the spirit of Sevilla has still been alive despite the relentless rain. Everywhere you go there are people talking, eating tapas, and sipping on tiny little coffees. Although it is one of the largest cities of Spain, there is a certain sense of community that many big US cities lack. The doors to the stores on the streets are always open, and there are always people eating or having drinks outside of restaurants (except, of course, during siesta). It also amazes me how much history is around me all the time. From La Giralda, to La Catedral de España, to the seemingly infinite number of “Plazas de…”, there is always something historical nearby. What I would have considered old in Boston is practically brand new compared to these ancient sights.
Last night was the orientation for our program, in which our professor went over more details of the Dialogue. First, though, she had a former student of this dialogue who is now living in Sevilla come in front of the group. She was truly a role-model for how to be the global citizen that Northeastern wants to foster, and made the idea of living in a different country after graduation seem like an actual possibility. It was also strange hearing about things I was going to be doing “here in Spain,” as opposed to “in Spain next month.”
In one of the first pre-departure meetings at Northeastern, our professor went over some norms in Spain. To me at that time, they seemed odd; however, when she went over them for a second time at the orientation, and after just having been here a few days, I have already found myself accepting the new behaviors as my own. Breakfast at 8am and then lunch at 2:30pm? Paying after drinking your coffee? No free water? All of those have quickly become my new normal. Thankfully, Boston had already prepped me for the whole deal on no public restrooms.
All in all, although I have experienced some culture-shock and uneasy feelings, I cannot stop being thrilled that I am actually in Spain at this moment, and it is only the beginning.
