Week 3 in Sevilla
Entry 4
Classes
I think it's super interesting, but you may find this part boring as it is going to be an academic/historical spiel, feel free to skip to the weekend label if you just want to see my travel/activities!
My Spanish classes were really interesting this week as we looked at aspects of the Andalusian accent and colloquial terms. Basically, most things that can be shortened are and I don't mean only abbreviated. They cut the "s" and the "d" out of a LOT of words, as well as dropping the last letter of nouns and verbs alike. In Spain they also say the "ch" sound as "sh", but other parts of the accent are specific to the region of Andalusia and are not heard in northern Spain. The very stereotypical Spanish accent with a sort of "th" lisp on the "c" and "s" sounds is not actually common in Sevilla. Of all of the cities in Spain, Sevilla is actually the most similar to Latin American countries in dialect and vocabulary, which is funny to learn after hearing how different it still is. We also learned various common words that have abbreviations and some local phrases:
todo (everything) = to, toda (all) = toa, para (for) = pa, muy (very) = mu, pues (well) = po, nada (nothing) = na, tu quieres ir ya (do you want to go/leave now/already?) = te quie i ya (almost said like tequila), fin de la semana (weekend) = finde, casa de (house of) = anca
There is a lot more, but you get the idea without having to see my whole page of notes. Basically, a sentence like this: Estoy en Sevilla para estudiar a la universidad y vivo en la casa de una familia de aquí. Todo es muy estupendo hasta ahora; would become (verbally): E'toy en Sevilla pa e'tudia a la universida y vivo en la anca una familia de aquí. To es mu e'tupendo ha'ta ahora. Not every word changes or loses letters, which makes it a bit harder, but a good chunk get changed when translating into Andalusian. I still struggle with fast talkers, but it is incredible how much more I am able to pick out of conversations now that I understand how words are shortened. I had thought that I was hearing completely new words but it's actually a lot of familiar language with a very unfamiliar style.
I also learned this week that "Spanish" has a political connotation for some people as there are different dialects in the different regions of Spain and many would not identify themselves as Spanish speakers but instead name the dialect of their region. What people most often consider "Spanish" was actually the dialect of the higher classes of society (Castilian, from the kingdom of Castile), which was pushed as the "correct" form and titled Spanish later one. If you remember from my second blog post, Spain is actually much younger than most people assume, and I think that is very clear when you learn more about its culture. The different regions reflect the borders of the old kingdoms and identities definitely lie within and depend upon those borders. There is of course still a sense of national identity, but it is much more common to hear people speak of themselves in reference to their region whereas American students tend to speak of America generally unless asked state specific questions. Anyway, back to languages, websites and some signs will actually have several language options which offer the various dialects to give you an idea of how different some of them are. There are also prejudices and stereotypes around accents associated with certain areas. The Andalusian accent is considered "bad" and associated with being poor and uneducated because wealth and power typically congregated and stemmed from the North, closer to the capitol. When portrayed in Spanish media, famous artists like Pablo Picasso and Diego Velazquez, are given Castilian accents despite being from Andalusia as they are well respected while characters with Andalusian accents are typically dumb or comedic relief.
It is super interesting to see how powerful language is throughout history as an aspect of identity and also how these identities have such far back reaching roots!
The Weekend
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| the Plaza de España |
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| do you guys see this tilework?? amazing |
After the Plaza, we went to el Parque de Maria Luisa as it is right across from the Plaza. I absolutely love all of the parks here; it seems like every neighborhood has at least one and they all look different. This park had a duck pond where I saw a new breed of ducks that I had never encountered (maybe they don't live in AZ?) and looked like they had the neck/head of a turkey and then an extra big and long duck body. They were kind of creepy but very nice and would just walk right alongside you around the pond. I also saw a little baby duck! The park and Plaza are quite close to el centro so we walked there for Five Guys, which was definitely set up for tourists as the menu was in English and the employees spoke English despite it seeming to be 90% locals inside. While we were eating a man came over and told my friend to hold her purse on her lap to avoid being pickpocketed and not even twenty minutes later a guy got his phone snatched two tables away. I also got accidentally locked into a park on my way home and had to ask the security guard to open the gate, so the end of the night was an eventful end to what had been a peaceful day.
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| I was so focused on the duckling that I forgot to take a picture of the park, whoops |
On Sunday, we went to Córdoba to visit the Mezquita de Córdoba and had our first negative BlaBlaCar experience. We got up early to meet a driver at 8am only for that driver to not show up (and later text me that he had slept in because he forgot about our ride) and had to last minute book a different driver for 10am. The meeting spot was on the other side of the city, but we had so much extra time that we decided to walk it so at least I was able to see more of Sevilla. The second driver was great and gave us directions to the Mosque when he dropped us off. Córdoba was the capitol of al-Andalus, the name that Muslims gave to the Iberian Peninsula during their conquest of it, so there is a fascinating mix of styles and religions in this town. While it has the name "Mezquita", or Mosque, of Córdoba the building is also a Catholic cathedral as Christians built onto the Mosque when they reoccupied the city later on. Much of the architecture is distinctly unique from the other cathedrals that I have seen until you step into the middle of the Mosque and suddenly you are standing in a cathedral instead and the architecture style is completely different from the rest of the building in a way that is almost jarring.
We had to book tickets to see inside for a specific time so we explored the surrounding shops while we waited, and I can confidently say that Córdoba has had the best shops so far. The area around the Mosque was full of narrow streets with walls decorated by flowerpots and storefronts everywhere. The city seemed to be best known for jewelry and leather goods, and while I did not purchase any leather, I definitely left with a few jewelry pieces and another present for my sister. We also had a quick lunch while we waited and were allowed to sit in the courtyard of the Mosque and listen to the bell tower.
We took another BlaBlaCar home and while most of our drivers have spoken at least a little English with some being fluent, this time the driver was not only fluent but told us that he also speaks German (the U.S. needs to step up our language game, the kids here learn English and French in elementary school). I was a bit hesitant about BlaBlaCars at first, but now I really enjoy the opportunity that it gives me to converse with locals and discover new Spanish music, as I add to my "blablacar" playlist during every ride. We got back to Sevilla around 8pm which meant that I had the rest of the evening to unwind, get a head start on Tuesday's homework, call my sister for her birthday, and talk with my roommates in Flagstaff.
Food
Not too much to add for real food this week since almost all of my meals were at home. I ate a lot of hot dogs and sandwiches, although one night the sandwiches were served with tomato wedges with some kind of spice on top and I loved that. My host mom also gave me a new food, some kind of bean and meat chili/stew thing and the beans and sauce were fine (with the addition of some Tapatio) but I did not enjoy the mystery meat. On Sunday night she gave me four slices of pizza, a plate of scrambled eggs, and a giant bowl of salad which I thought was a crazy amount until I actually finished all of it, I guess walking more than 11 miles worked up an appetite.
Candy Review! I was a bit hesitant to buy Spanish/European brands because Milka is really popular here and I hate it, so their taste can't be trusted, but I need to find my chocolate fix here as the only familiar brand is Crunch. I bought a dark chocolate Valor bar which is gigantic and should last me weeks: 10/10! So good, definitely my new go-to candy. I also bought a Lacasa dark chocolate bar with some kind of fruit in it, which was more expensive despite being half the size of the Valor bar, I think this is their fancy brand: 10/10! Also, a new staple in my candy drawer. The last treat wasn't a new brand but a new flavor, as they have a lot of Trolli and Haribo candy here but none of the same things as the U.S., so I tried Trolli octopi gummies: 5/10, okay but probably will try a different gummy candy next time.
In Córdoba, my lunch was a chicken kebab--but what they call kebabs here are actually either just little sandwiches or gyros--nonetheless, it was amazing and the best entree that I have had here: 10/10. And of course, because it's me and what else are you going to eat while wandering the streets and looking at storefronts, I had an ice cream: 8/10, I wish they had packed the cup more, was not enough.
my "kebab" and new ring from Córdoba
This entry was super long, sorry! I also learned that the formatting gets screwed up depending on the type of device you read on, so if it looks janky, sorry again!
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