My Time In Sevilla, Spain

    I have been enjoying seeing life in Sevilla both in school and out of school. In general, classes work a little bit differently. Instead of going to different classrooms, teachers come to each classroom and rotate from there. Also, school is from 8am to 2:30pm with one break for a snack. At around 3pm to 3:30 pm, when I get back from school with my host family, I eat lunch. This is different because I usually eat lunch a little earlier. Then they have time in the day to relax and take a tap, a “siesta”. After an activity in the afternoon and night, I have been having dinner from anywhere in between 9:30pm to 10:30pm which is also a little different from my normal schedule. It has been interesting to be apart of someone else’s routine and see how different things are in different countries. At the same time, there are a lot of similarities between the Sacred Heart back in California and the one in Sevilla. They both start the day with a morning prayer and have time as a community to come together (whether it be through assemblies, ceremonies, graduations, etc). Getting to know my host family has been really nice as well. Ángela, my exchange student, has 2 other sisters who have been really helpful when I do not understand something. Her mother, has been really sweet as well and been speaking a lot to me which has giving me a chance to practice my Spanish which I can already tell is improving.
    Going into the Sevilla city center was very interesting. It is a very old town but very beautiful and the streets are filled with horse carriages for visitors to tour around the city. Instead of going by carriage, my host family and I walked around the city and were able to see some very important sights such as the Cathedral, Toro de Oro, and the historic streets and shops. I was able to practice my Spanish a lot because my host family was talking about all the sights in Spanish and I was making an effort to read signs and ask questions.
Over the first weekend I was in Sevilla, we went to Granada, another city which is about 3 hours away. My host family has an apartment in Granada which is right next to the “Plaza de Torros de Granada” (An old bull fighting arena). We toured Granada by wandering through the streets into plazas and famous statues as well as eating some of the famous ice cream. Granada is a beautiful city full of history and culture which I enjoyed seeing. Later, we went on a walk to a scenic spot (the most famous scenic lookout in Granada) and it was really stunning. We saw a view of the whole city as well as the Alhambra (a fortress). The next morning we went inside the Alhambra which was also really unique and impressive. It is interesting that in Spain there is an intersection of both Islam and Christianity and it is visible in the architecture(such as the Alhambra) and history of the country.
Overall, I have been enjoying my visit so far and I have already seen an improvement in Spanish speaking and comprehension skills. I am grateful to both the school and my host family for all their help and encouragement!