Watkins is in Sevilla: and She Studies!

I didn't just up and leave my people and places in the name of adventure! While that was certainly a big part of my decision, becoming (more?)fluent in Spanish was is main goal for studying abroad.

Here in Spain, I study at UPO (OOH-POH), or Universidad de Pablo Olavide. It's one of the few public universities in Spain with a real campus. Typically, Spanish universities are scattered buildings throughout the city. It's got 10,000 students, but because classes go all day and my building is so far from the main walkway, it seems much smaller.

Pre-orientation picture!

First day of school picture! Got to school 3 hours
early to take this baby and explore a bit.

This is Pablo!

A super easy to read quote from our orientation.
Possibly the longest I've ever sat in a lecture
hall.

They have sculptures here too!

Our library

Cute covered walkway by the parking lots

Our main campus map- my building is about
where the "A" in "Ilustracion" is

 It's really cute, and I'm really enjoying it (even if it is almost an hour to commute!). My classes are all super, super interesting too! I'm taking 3 in Spanish, and 1 in English. And they all work together so well! It's awesome seeing the connections in material and getting to go in-depth on things that we would normally only do the basics of in a regular Spanish class.

Mis Clases:
I have each class 2X a week (with the exception of Culture Up-Close), for an hour twenty each. Sitting through that is totally worth the 3 day weekends we have here! I'm going to be so spoiled when I come home haha. My classes have anywhere from 8-14 people, so the instruction is awesome and personal.

Español Avanzado 1: Basic grammar, vocabulary, and conversational skills.
Cultura y Civilización Española: An in-depth look at the unique and varied aspects of Spanish culture, geography, and history. A great place to get travel ideas! We also do a lot of discussion on current events, which is fascinating. Lately our topic of choice has been the American government shutdown vs the economic crisis here in Spain.
Conversación Avanzado: Great information about the little parts of conversation. We do a LOT of vocabulary in this class, much of it colloquial, which is awesome! We also talk about things happening around Sevilla that are free or cheap, so I always know something cool to do on the weekends.
Culture Up-Close: My one English class! This class is structured a bit differently than the others. So far, we have done a short overview of the customs, geography, politics, history, population, communication, government, educational system, and Spanish environmental issues. We cover a huge range of topics these first few weeks, because starting this Thursday, we only meet once a week. We only meet once a week because the rest of our class time is spent volunteering in the community! We can work with minority populations in an immigration office (which is what I chose to do!), teach English at their primary schools, volunteer at an environmental center, or work at a nursing home. I'm excited to get out there! I'll for sure post a blog more about this experience later. :)

Until next time, Love Katie