Thurs., Feb. 18

Thurs., Feb. 18
I know more real Spanish people now!!!
Tonight was the Intercambio meet-and-greet at the CC-CS center, and it ended up being SO much fun. It had some definite awkward beginnings but worked out. Everyone made their way to the patio at the Center where there were tapas, wine, beer, and soda. Each person had to wear a name tag, so everyone was awkwardly stealing glances at other people’s chests to see names and find their intercambios. Awesome.
Like I said, in the end it worked out, because it seems that all the Spanish intercambios are really cool people. My intercambio is a woman in her late twenties named Irene who works in business. She’s super nice, and easy to talk to. During the fiesta, however, I ended up getting into a conversation with a couple CC-CS girls, and a Spanish intercambio named Alberto. He is working on his master’s thesis in business at the University of Sevilla, and learned English from an American teacher in France. (And he said he would soon be going to San Francisco to learn French… I still don’t understand.) He was hilarious, and good company. He explained the Spanish way of life to us: sleeping, drinking, having a good time, and never arriving on time. He then explained how several guys at the fiesta were going to light up some “hashish.”
Me: Wait. Weed? Here?
Alberto: Weed! Yeah! We Spanish smoke a lot of weed… it’s really cheap in Morocco!
I did not know this. I thought it was just the drinking and the cigarettes… but I have to say it makes sense. Why are people always sleeping in? Late? Relaxed? All, “no pasa nada!”… it’s the weed. (This reasoning made Alberto laugh.) Alberto explained smilingly, “Spain is… how do you say… a country of vices.” And then he smiled broadly and helped himself to some more white wine.
We also started talking to his friend Pablo there, and he told me how Pablo was a professional sleeper. Pablo looked very proud after this statement.
Well, we continued to laugh, chat, eat tapas, and drink. (Don’t worry—just one tinto de verano for me, and then Fanta after that! It was a school night after all.) At the end of the fiesta, my intercambio Irene and I went to go look for her Mexican friend who was waiting for her by the CC-CS center. They had met in Rome when they were both learning Italian there, and he was visiting her in Sevilla. I ended up striking a conversation with him, and it was insanely refreshing. His accent was so familiar! We talked about a lot of the differences in Spain-Spanish and Mexican-Spanish, and had some good laughs (check out the word “coger”).
It was a fantastic night, and I’m SO happy to have really spent some fiesta-time with some españoles!

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