What a great first week it’s been! The first couple of days I was settling in, with a couple orientations and then I started classes. The first photo is of my walk to school- where you can see the Torre de Oro on the right, a monument from the 13th century. El Centro, where I am talking my classes, is about a 20 minute walk from my host family’s apartment, and on the way I cross the Guadalquivir River.
Tuesday night we went for a paseo (a little walking tour) and saw the Plaza de España. I didn’t realize until I was there that I have actually already been to the Plaza de España- almost 8 years ago now! They filmed some of Star Wars there. Also, while we were walking through the Parque de María Luisa, which is right next to the Plaza de España, they were filming the newest Walking Dead.
Thursday night we had our first session of intercambios. This is an exchange between the local university students and the students in our program, where we speak with them in both spanish in english so that we both improve our speaking skills. Afterwards, some friends and I explored Seville with one of the students from the University of Seville and ate dinner at a local Spanish restaurant, El Cairo. We tried paella de mariscos (seafood), which we enjoyed a lot.
Finally, on Friday we went on a day trip to Itálica, which is just 15 minutes outside of Seville and explored some Roman ruins. This day trip is one of many included in the Seville program, and we were guided by SSA professors who shared insight into the background and evolution of this historic site.
~Sofia