Half of studying abroad is studying. It's not necessarily the fun part, but it will be a big part of my semester here. My university here in Spain is called Universidad Pablo de Olavide - UPO for short. It is not located within the city of Sevilla, but rather in the outlying farmland, so I have a 5-10 minute metro ride to school everyday. I got a 45 trip metro pass for only 31€. That's a fairly good deal. I'll be spending a lot on the metro this semester since I make at least 2 trips every day! And the metro is VERY nice. It's new here - only about 2 years old - so it's much fancier than the El! There's only one line, so you can't go everywhere in the city, but luckily my school and house are right on the line!
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| Gran Plaza - The plaza where I catch the metro every day (it's only about 5 minutes from my house!) |
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| The Metro of Sevilla - FANCY! |
The campus is nice. It looks kind of like an old prison. The windows have bars on them and there is a huge tower that looks like a sniper tower. But apparently it's a recycled university from the dictatorship of Franco in the 1950s. There's pretty much one long outdoor hallway with buildings on either side, so it's nice.
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| The rectory and the "sniper tower" |
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| Pablo de Olavide - the university's namesake! |
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| The long hallway through the campus |
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| Some of the UPO campus buildings and verdure! |
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| More UPO buildings (notice the bars on the windows!) |
I wound up getting an advanced score on my placement exam, so I was able to take all of the classes I wanted! My schedule is the following:
Monday/Wednesday
12:00-1:20pm - The Mediterranean World and Spain (This is a history class about the Mediterranean civilizations until around 700AD. So I'll be learning all about Greeks, Romans, Phoenicians, Egyptians and Arabs. It will be interesting because I've never really had an in-depth course on ancient history. And we will also take a field trip to the Archeology Museum and maybe to some archeological sites in the region!)
1:30-2:50pm - Women in Europe (This class is sort of a history of feminism and a look at current social issues regarding gender inequality. This is the only course that NCC would count as an advanced level Spanish course, so I need it to finish my Spanish major. The professor seems to be really excited that I am in the class because she has probably never taught a male student about feminism. So I may return to the states as a feminist. You have all been forewarned!)
Tuesday/Thursday
1:30-2:50pm - Intercultural Communication (This is another course I need for my Global Studies major. It is interesting enough. We'll be learning about how to communicate with people in other cultures both verbally and non-verbally and also on how to develop intercultural understanding.)
1:30-2:50pm - Intercultural Communication (This is another course I need for my Global Studies major. It is interesting enough. We'll be learning about how to communicate with people in other cultures both verbally and non-verbally and also on how to develop intercultural understanding.)
2:50-4:00pm - LUNCH! (Yes, that is lunch time! In Spain, lunch is normally served between 2 and 4pm, so since I'm not at home on Tuesdays and Thursdays, my host mom packs me a lunch, which usually consists of a bocadillo (sandwich), some type of salad, and a piece of fruit. The last two days I have sat out in a pine grove and have shared my bocadillo with a stray black cat. He also liked my corn and tuna salad!)
4:00-5:20pm - Ecological Systems (This is the only course I am taking in English and it fulfills my science gen ed requirements which is nice to get that out of the way! It will be interesting since I've always been somewhat interested in environmental things. And we will be doing experiments in a greenhouse! How cool is that?)
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| My new lunchtime friend! |
Friday-Saturday-Sunday
WEEKEND! This is when I plan to enjoy the "abroad" half of study abroad. There are some bigger things I want to do like visit Portugal and the Balearic Islands, but I think I'll also be doing some smaller day trips around Andalucia (the southernmost province of Spain, of which Sevilla is the capital!) So keep following my blog to find out where I'm off to next!
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| Sunset walking back to the metro after orientation (Don't be fooled by the beauty! It feels like 110° at this time of day!) |
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