Aracena and Cádiz

Well, I made it through my first week of grammar class without too much difficulty; the class is a long three hour class at the program study center from 12-3 each day aimed to help us improve some basic Spanish grammar before we begin regular classes at the University of Seville. The class has been a helpful review but it has also allowed us to get to know the city a little better. One assignment was to interview 4 different University of Seville students about their experience as a Spanish university student and their views concerning the current Bolonia plan, which standardizes and completely changes the university education process in Europe. Another assignment is to select a typical Spanish recipe, purchase the ingredients at the grocery store, and cook the chosen recipe, (of course with some guidance from my host family). I am quickly learning that the names for particular foods in Spain are very region specific and difficult to remember! My favorite food so far here in Seville has been the jamón ibérico, which translates to iberian ham, and is considered to be the best ham in the world, (self proclaimed I think), however there is some merit to this claim. I compare it to a more tender, thinner and smokey flavored bacon, so delicious! You can order it by itself as a tapa or eat it on tostada con tomate y aceite, (toast and tomato with olive oil).  The theme in Spain seems to be smaller portions of very rich food, hence the necessity for a siesta following lunch, which is the largest meal of the day!
This past weekend I had the opportunity to visit the town of Aracena, where some of the best jamón ibérico comes from. Aracena is a small town in the "mountains" near Portugal about an hour or so northwest of Seville. Our group of 20 took a bus with 10 Spanish university students for a weekend of language immersion where only Spanish was spoken. We stayed at a beautiful little hotel where we did language activities and conversation circles. I got to talk with all of the Spanish students who were very nice and excited to teach us the Sevillano slang and proceed to laugh hysterically when we attempted to repeat these new phrases. We had our shot at revenge when we switched it up and helped them with their english phrases. Describing the appropriate use of the phrase "party foul" was hilarious and quite a challenge! We also had the opportunity to eat some jamón ibérico and walk by the pastures where the pigs are raised. Not all of the jamón ibérico comes from this area, however many believe that the jamón from this region is so much better because the pigs feed on acorns.
The weekend before, I took a day trip to Cádiz with my friend Kassie to check out the beaches. Cádiz is on the Atlantic coast just about an hour south of Seville and it is also the oldest inhabited city in western Europe. We took a three hour walking tour from a guide book and finished the day on the beach. We started at the huge cathedral in the heart of the city and made our way through the local market and through various plazas. By the time we made it to the beach we were both exhausted and slept on the beach, in the shade, for about 2 hours. In Cádiz you are practically in Morocco and the sun is extremely intense so 55 SPF sunscreen and shade was all that my pale skin could handle!
This week will be my final week of grammar class, and then real classes begin on the 27th. Figuring out which classes to take and where the classes are held has proved to be about as simple as solving a rubix cube. Apparently organization is not a strong point for Spain, on the bright side there is no such thing as a class being full because there simply aren't enough students in the university to cause a class to be at capacity. For this reason, instead of frantically registering at a designated time the way I do in Oregon, I simply attend several classes I am interested in and then after the first week eliminate the ones I don't like. The flexibility will be nice just as long as I can figure out where the classes are held! Unlike the United States, there is no designated "campus", instead there are university buildings throughout the entire city, which means taking a city bus from one class to the next is often necessary if you don't plan ahead.
The next travel destination on the list is Morocco! I should be going with a tour group sometime in October as long as my classes don't take up too much time, I will keep updating shutterfly with pictures as often as I can :)