The MCP Program

After staying in Sevilla for three nights, I was ready to start the MCP program. I enjoyed walking around and exploring the city, but I felt like a total extranjera (foreigner), given my race and inability to speak the language fluently. I felt lonely, not necessarily because I missed people, but because I needed others to help me cope with these feelings. I needed the reassurance that I wasn’t the only one feeling this way.

On Sunday morning, I took a taxi from my hostel to Hotel Bècquer, where we would stay for the next few nights. The taxi driver seemed especially happy when I tipped him. In Spain, people don’t usually tip for the taxi or in restaurants, but if they do, they usually just round up or pay one euro.

My roommate in the hotel was Amy, who studies psychology at Cornell. Unfortunately, the hotel only has one key for each room, but it didn’t turn out to be a problem, since I hung out with Amy most of the time. Since I had some time to explore the city, I took her around to see the sites. We went to el Parque Maria Luisa, a large park with huge botanical gardens, fountains, and a variety of birds. It was beautiful. It seemed like the ideal place to study or just sit and relax. We also explored the Plaza de España, which is one of the postcard images of Sevilla. I don’t know many details about the square and its surrounding buildings, but according to my guide book, the Plaza de España was the site of the 1929 international fair for Spanish-speaking countries.

Amy and I only spoke Spanish around each other, thanks to the initiation on Amy’s behalf. I really appreciated her effort; despite the suggestions of Eva, Luisa, and Pepe (who are in charge of the program in Sevilla), many of the other students prefer to only speak in English. Of course, it’s easier to speak English, but it makes me feel even more out of place. Still, I do like the other students in my program. At first, it was kind of awkward: I didn’t really know anyone, and I dislike social settings in which I’m forced to make small talk with other people. But slowly, I’ve been getting to know people better, and I’m starting to warm up too. As a group all together we’re a bit of a disaster, though. We’ve been in trouble for our little social gathering in one of the hotel rooms (way to reinforce the stereotype of American as being loud and inconsiderate!). Because of our noisiness, we’ve also been yelled at by one of the hotel staff. Yet it’s funny to me, because it reminds me so much of the silliness of freshman year, especially our need to walk out in large groups.

One of the people I’ve met is Terry, who attends the University of Michigan. He is possibly the loudest and most talkative person I have ever met in my life. He actually does ballroom too. The funny thing is, I think I saw him and his partner competing at Ohio Star Ball (in case any of you guys remember, his partner was the one wearing the really green dress in Silver Latin/Rhythm). During one of our free times, we actually danced a bit together, which I enjoyed. I guess I have a temporary practice partner!

It hasn’t been all fun and games, though. After a few days of setting in, we started cultural immersion and language classes at the Centro. They’re supposed to be intensive, so they took about three hours each day. First, we have a lecture on some cultural topic, then we have a discussion led by some native speaker. The lectures haven’t been the most interesting, since I’ve learned a lot of the information before. The discussions are okay, but we’re being graded in terms of participation (especially how well we’ve read the articles). On the first day of discussion, we have to put into order which topics interest Spaniards, from most to least. One of the guys in the my group wanted to put politics first, which didn’t sound completely right to me, but I thought, whatever. I didn’t remember the article in its entirety, but it turns out that the politics is the thing that Spaniards care least about. Oops.

After living in the hotel for about four nights, we moved in to live with our host families. I am currently sharing a room with Andrea, who attends the University of Michigan. We live in Triana, which is in a quaint neighborhood across the Guadalquivir river and, fortunately, close to the Centro. A lot of the other students are living in Porvenir (the future), which is more modern but also sort of ugly. Every time I walk across the bridge to the Center or back to Triana, I get a magnificent view of the city and the waterfront. Triana is full of ceramic shops, tapas, cafes, and impromptu flamenco. In fact, we live directly in front of Casa Anselma, which has a lot of flamenco performances at night. A lot of flamenco shows are geared towards tourists, but Casa Anselma is place where a lot of locals attend. When Andrea and I passed by yesterday, we could see some people dancing the Sevillanas.

Most of the students in the program are living with old señoras, who are widowed and house international students for the extra income. Andrea and I, however, are living with an actual family. The mother’s name is Emilia, but she goes by Meli. She apparently had wanted to name one of her daughters Andrea, because she really likes that name. Whenever she tries to call us, she only addresses Andrea. She also forgot my name once. This makes me feel left out at times, but I’m trying not to take it personally. The father’s name is Ernesto. He kind of reminds me of Santa Claus: big and jolly minus the beard. He’s an excellent cook, and he laugh at the fact that he has to lose weight.

Ernesto and Meli have three daughters and one son, and two of their daughters (Maria and Rosa) are still living with them. I enjoy living with a family because I get to see how they interact, and how the young generation speaks. Living with Andrea also means I get to hear the use of vosotros more often, which sometimes feels foreign to my ears.

I have currently adapted to the Spanish eating schedule. I eat all my meals at home. Breakfast is simple, as it only consists of a few pieces of toast with margarine or marmalade. The time for breakfast depends the time we wake up, and lately it has been around 11 o’clock. Lunch is usually around 2 o’clock, and it is the most important and most formal meal of the day. The whole family sits down at the table, and we don’t start eating until everyone’s there. Since we eat the most during lunch, a little siesta is necessary, so I usually take a nap afterwards. We don’t eat dinner until 9 o’clock at night (some families eat as late as 10 o’clock), and it’s really informal. Ernesto just leaves out food for us, and Andrea and I just spend the dinner just chatting amongst ourselves and watching TV. Sometimes Andrea doesn’t finish her food, so I finish it for her (I’m her basura, or trash can). I have a feeling that I’ll definitely gain weight from eating all this good food. But we walk so much every day, so it compensates for my gigantic appetite. After dinner, we like to go out and hang out with the other students in the program. The other night, we stayed out until 3 o’clock in the morning, because we went to get ice cream and then headed to a salsa club. I’m really enjoying this pace of life, because it’s so relaxed, yet there’s still time to have fun. Of course, not having access to internet is a pain, but I like living life without thinking about my responsibilities back at school and at home.