As it turns out, I don’t believe I have actually explained what I’ve been doing for the past few weeks. (Classes don’t start until September 26th!) So: my program, Junior Year in Spain (JYS) through Sweet Briar College, involves a 3 ½ week orientation. 3 of these weeks are filled with orientation classes—culture, conversation, and grammar. However, this amounts to only 3 hours a day, plus a few visits to historic sites in and around Sevilla.
[Plug for the program: JYS is actually incredible. To all of you who are thinking about studying in Spain, I would HIGHLY recommend JYS. I came to Sevilla mostly because of the program, and I certainly have not been disappointed. For example, on Monday night, the director of my program drove me home after a theater performance just because she felt like it.]
Anyways, the real purpose of this post is to comment on the professor of my culture class. Her name is Maria, and she is about 8 ½ months pregnant (and a complete sweetheart). The first day of class, she started off with the following announcement: “I just want to warn you that Pablo is due October 1st. Hopefully he won’t come until then, but be prepared in case he comes early right here in front of you! I’m sorry if this happens—hopefully you won’t be too scarred!”
Now, this is funny to begin with. But what strikes me as odd is the way she refers to him as Pablo. For a bit, I thought it might be a cultural thing—I’d never heard anyone do this in the States. As it turns out, Maria is just strange (in the words of my program director).
Spanish word of the day: dar luz = to give birth (because hopefully I will not have to witness Pablo’s birth on the classroom floor!)
peace,
elizabeth
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