Gaining Perspective Through Distance

     First, I need to apologize for my apparent absence from this blog. I did not die, my computer did not break, and I did not forget I had a blog. Therefore, I have no excuse for the extended absence, I was lazy, and I've had a lot of work to do for my classes. But I'm back now, and it's just water under the bridge.

      Perspective. Aren't we always looking for perspective? Well, I think I've found some. I spent thousands of dollars, passed nearly 24 hours in airports, and gave up the opportunity to work all summer, but I think I've found some perspective. I've found it in three parts of my life: my personal life (read: friends and family), my professional life (read: nursing classes), and my American life (read: Diet Coke and flush-able toilet paper).

      To begin, I've been focusing on the people with whom I surround myself on a daily basis. Of course, there's family. They are the ones who are always there. They're there when you want them to be, they're there when you don't. They're there when you need them, and they're there when you don't think you need them, but you really do. With this, I have been incredibly blessed.
     The idea of friends is very different. Over the past 8ish years of my life, the process of developing friendships has been very significant. First you need to find perspective candidates: people with similar interests, people with clever tongues, people who just catch your eye for no reason whatsoever. Then, over time friendships develop. Here in Spain, it doesn't really work like that. I was thrust into a tiny group of people, and we were randomly sorted into different neighborhoods throughout the city. I've become friends with my roommate, classmates, and people who live nearby. Because of this, I'm with people I would normally have probably never noticed. I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but it is definitely different. The relationship I have with them is very different than the relationship I have with my friends back home. When we leave here, I will miss the people I've met; I already miss some people that left at the end of May. However, it's nothing like the feeling of missing someone who has been your best friend for a year. I realize with the new perspective that I've gained, that my friends are important, and they are to be cherished.

      Wow, what fantastic, tiny, insignificantly wonderful things we have in the United States. Admittedly, we have no culture, but I don't want culture. I want Diet Coke. I want to throw my toilet paper in the toilet. I want a nice cold glass of milk with a PB&J on cheap, soggy white bread. I want to get into my car and drive to the other end of campus, instead of walking. These are the things about which we need perspective. We need to notice what we have in our lives, that we take completely for granted, but would miss so much if they were gone.

      Thirdly, Those of us drawn to healthcare as a profession (focus: nursing) are an interesting breed. Bear with me as I generalize and stereotype throughout this paragraph. We often neglect ourselves to care for others. It's what we do; it's how we get by. Here in Spain, I have no one to take care of. There's no hospital full of patients waiting for the nervous nursing student to take their blood pressure, to bring them water, or to tell their real nurse that they need their pills. There are no Fairmont Assisted Living facilities waiting for me to punch in and change diapers, serve meals, wash bathrooms, and do laundry. The only person here for me to take care of is myself. And it's miserable. Sleeping 8 hours at night, eating 3 meals a day, taking time to read, play guitar, and watch TV. It's not my style. It doesn't fulfill me, and I'm accomplishing nothing. My new perspective has made me realize how dedicated I really am to becoming, not just a nurse, but the best nurse I can be. My wheels are spinning here, and I'm accomplishing nothing. I'm ready to put my scrubs back on and get to a 6:30am clinical in sub-zero temperatures.

      Now, I don't want to give you the wrong impression. This trip is one of the best experiences of my lifetime. I don't regret it at all. I'm also not ready to leave Spain. I am ready to be home, though. So, this week, my goal is to work toward some perspective about what I have here. I'm going to try to look at my life in Spain the same way I have been looking back at my life in the US. And now, since you've endured the entire rant that preceded this paragraph, I'd like to reward you with a couple photos!

Puente Nuevo in Ronda

Another view of Ronda

We went to Ronda on Saturday, which was a beautiful city, but since it was build on cliffs in a mountain, there were tons of stairs, and about 4 hours of walking up and down those stairs. Nice town, but my blisters tell me to never go back!

Feelings, Emotions, and Fully Living an Experience

I need to preface this post: I am really emotional today. In a good way, which I hope you will understand by the end of what I'm sure will be some rambling...

Today, most of the group is in Cordoba, but I'm still here in Seville, since I went to Cordoba in May.  My morning consisted of watching three episodes of GLEE, and it was a great way to get me into a crying mood! Since the third episode was the graduation episode, it really made me miss some very important people from my high school career (namely, Taylor, Stephen, Caleb, Heidi, and Mr. Warren). Now, you may be asking ‘why are you rambling about high school on a blog about your cultural experience in Seville?’  Please be patient, I’m getting there.

Over the past several years, I’ve developed an understanding, maybe even a life philosophy, which is focused on experiencing with full clarity the things going around me. So many people try to change the feelings they have. When we’re sad, friends try to cheer us up. When we’re happy, we usually try to keep being happy. That may not be all bad. But there’s another option.

I’ve realized that happiness, sadness, excitement, anger, joy, and disappointment are instrumental in forming who we are, and who we will become.  For these emotions to mean anything, they need their opposite; what value would happiness have if sadness didn’t exist? Because of this, I think we need to open up and surrender to whatever we feel in the moment. Let the pain fill you up, let euphoria overtake you, let disappointment take your breath away, and let amazement stop your heart. That’s how I’ve been trying to live my life.

Here’s how this all relates to my time here. Right now, I’m really missing some people. And it’s completely okay, because I realize that the feeling comes from how much I care about them. I also realize that the feeling isn’t going to last forever. Earlier, I was walking down the street, sweat pouring out, and I stopped for a second, in the sun, so I could feel the heat with absolute clarity. Every moment goes away before it even starts, so now I try to focus on experiencing those moments while they last. It has honestly made my life so much richer. So, if you feel like something is missing, look around you; you are probably just missing it!

Sweaty Siesta

     What a day. It was shaping up to be perfectly uneventful. I had class for 4 hours, walked home, and ate lunch with my roommate. Pretty typical Wednesday. I got a text from a friend telling me the name of a pawn shop here in Seville that she recently visited. She had said it was in Nervión, which is the neighborhood I live in. I mentioned this to my roommate, and we decided to go check out the guitars they had there. We found the place on Google maps, slipped on our shoes, and we were ready to go.
     We walked, and we walked, and we walked. It ended up taking about 45 minutes to get there, in the searing afternoon sun. We found the place at 3:30, and it was all locked up. So, we decided to wait for it to open, at 5. We went to a nearby café, and had some refreshing tinto de verano. There was a 27-year-old guy there who knew some English, and was insisting that Tommy and I were U.S. Marines, since we were from the US. We eventually corrected him, then he made us listen to Nickelback. So we went to another café.
     Finally, 5:00 showed up and we went to the store. Of course, I fell in love with a guitar, and walked out with a guitar and case. Now I have a guitar to play while I'm here! That's going to be pretty awesome, because there are a lot of parks, and I want to go play in them all. Now, I just want to learn some Spanish music!

Sick in Seville

     Not the best situation. Thousands of miles away from home, searing hot weather, a little homesick, and on top of it all, actually sick. Now, to clear up any confusion, I am still having the experience of my life here in Seville. I just wish this sore throat, headache, and stuffy sinuses would go away.
     There is a concept widely known as culture shock. The idea is that when someone travels abroad for an extended period of time, they go through certain phases. Initially, it is very exciting; the Honeymoon phase. Everything is new, you don't really miss home yet, and you are just a sponge, soaking in new experiences, meeting new people, trying new foods, and rapidly learning a new language.
     The second phase is the negotiation phase. This is a more difficult time. Homesickness begins to set in, and the cultural norms that originally seemed small, (almost adorable), begin to become more difficult to deal with.
     The reason I include this brief overview of culture shock is to explain where this physical sickness falls into place. I mostly moved past the honeymoon phase, and entered negotiation. I was starting to miss home quite a bit, and was even getting really frustrated about small things that normally wouldn't have bothered me. After a short while, I recognized this. In an effort to reverse this thought process and assume a new attitude, I took on the phrase "Once in a lifetime" as a sort of mantra.
     Whenever I would have to walk through the kitchen with a dirty piece of toilet paper (so I could throw it away, as is the custom here), I'd say to myself "once in a lifetime." Whenever I was served a salad covered in vinegar, with tomatoes replacing the lettuce: "once in a lifetime." And every time I thought 'I really need a hug from (Heidi, Taylor, Mom, Dad, Aunt Cathy, Trey...)' I would say "once in a lifetime." Because this experience truly is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It really started to work. I still want to throw the toilet paper in the toilet, I still want lettuce with ranch dressing, and I would buy a plane ticket for a hug from any of the aforementioned embracers. But it helped put everything into perspective.
   You may have noticed I said, "It really started to work." Then, I got sick. To clarify: I have a sore throat, my head feels about to explode, and my sinuses are draining faster than the waterfalls at La Fortuna.  On top of it all, I have almost no appetite (which, try as I might, I cannot adequately explain to my host family, who continues to serve me 3-course meals), and I have the worst fatigue I have felt in years. For further clarification: The only medications I have with me are ibuprofen and sudafed. Which, I admit, aren't the worst two options for my symptoms, but they are certainly not the best. When the sickness hit, my mantra shriveled up into a little ball, and rolled into a safe hiding place in the suitcase under my bed.
     But, honestly, it's not that bad. I haven't had anything to do all weekend, since almost everyone else went to Portugal, so I have been sleeping about 18 hours each day. Which is helping. The ibuprofen is helping the inflammation in my throat, and the pain in my head, and the sudafed is taming the gush from my sinuses. So, when Monday comes around, hopefully I'll be able to coax that mantra back out from it's little safe haven, and ElCaminoSevillano will go on.

ROOMMATE! (Frequent Photo Post)

So, this past Friday, my roommate showed up! I wasn't sure how to feel about the whole roommate thing, since I haven't shared a living space with anyone since my freshman year of college...
Turns out, he's not half bad! His name is Tommy, he's from Michigan, and seems pretty cool. We haven't actually seen each other much since he got here, because he went to La Rábida on Saturday, and I went to the beach today, but so far, so good! Here's a pic I stole from his facebook, with his permission, of course!!!

To clear up any confusion, he's the male in the picture :)

Frequent Photo 5-30

This is a bit of a combination of a post and a frequent photo. Yesterday, I mentioned I wanted to talk about food. So, I'm going to do that a bit with this photo!
Regarding food, there has been a huge culture shock. First of all, my host family prepares almost double the amount of food I am capable of eating. That's pretty easy to deal with, though; I just don't eat it all.
The real shock is in the schedule:
     Breakfast is at 8am. - So far, so good; class at 9 means the 8am breakfast is basically necessary.
     Lunch is at 2:30pm. - Now, we're starting to get a little messed up. Not terrible, but that's awfully late for lunch.
     Supper is any time between 9pm and 11pm. - WHAT?! It's true. I'm expected to eat a 3-course meal in the middle of the night. Supper always includes bread, a huge bowl of soup, and some main course or another.

So, that's basically how food works here. Often, people will stop and grab a small bight to eat in the evening, around 5 or 6, since there's 8 hours between lunch and supper!

And here's a picture of my favorite meal I've had here in Seville!!! It's Cola de Toro, which directly translates to Tail of Bull. It is accompanied by potatoes and paella here in this pic!

Long Overdue

Here I am in Seville. I've been here over 2 weeks now, and haven't written a legitimate blog post yet. It seems as though I should have much more time here, since I don't have a job, or 4 classes, etc... Yet, I never seem to have time! Maybe I'm just prioritizing siesta over blogging, which, in my humble opinion, is a valid prioritization.

With this post, I'd like to cover a couple things: My host family, the SEVici bicycle service, and food.

I am living with a wonderful family in the Nervion barrio in Seville. My señora's name is Elena, and she has a husband named Antonio. They have two sons; José Antonio, 19; and Alvaro, 18. They also have a wonderful dog, named Golfo.  We live in a flat on the 5th floor (referred to as the 4th floor in spanish, because the ground floor is referred to as zero...) with a nice balcony.

View from our balcony

The Kitchen!

The living room!

The balcony!

The living room they never use!

So, I mentioned a couple things I wanted to address in this post. I successfully addressed one. Now I must go; a handful of us are heading out for the evening, and I have to shower first!!!

Daily Photos -> Frequent Photos

I'm going to change my approach a little bit. It isn't fair of me to get your hopes up for DAILY photos, when it has been proven that I simply don't upload a photo each and every day. So, I'm rechristening this idea as "Frequent Photos." Many people would say Frequent Fotos, because of the alliterate spelling, but that bothers me a little too much, so I'm not going to! Here's today's Frequent Photo:

Part of El Alcázar de Sevilla
In this photo, you can see a depiction of two towers of Hercules,
connected by a green ribbon. The towers of Hercules, of course, were
placed near the Strait of Gibraltar to mark the edge of the earth (they are two
mountains, one of which is known; the other has been disputed for years).
In mythology, they bore the warning: "Nec Plus Ultra" (nothing further beyond).
Charles I, ruler of the Spanish Empire from 1516-1556 (also known as Charles V as
Holy Roman Emporer from 1519), changed and adopted the phrase as "Plus Ultra"
to stand as a testament to his daring and willingness to take risk. Plus Ultra is now
a national motto of Spain, and the pillars with the ribbon are part of the spanish flag
and emblem. It is said the dollar sign (  )  may have originated from the use of the
two pillars and ribbon on money in Europe.   

5-21 Daily Photo - Day 7

Well, I guess daily isn't exactly the right word anymore. I started out with the best of intentions, but that didn't work out so very well. We started classes on Friday, and had a trip to the monastery where Columbus received funding to travel (and then he found North America) on Saturday. And now, it's Monday! I have quite a bit of homework to do tonight, so I'm just going to post a quick picture here now! It's from the bullfight I went to last night!

Despite how it looks, el torrero did not end up getting hurt! It was fantastic, and I will post a video or two at some point; hopefully soon! Tomorrow will also be a busy day, but I hope Wednesday I will be able to write a slightly more lengthy post!

5-17 Daily Photo - Day 3

It's honestly a miracle that you get to see a picture today. It was a VERY long day, and it was very high-stress, which is not, by any means, the norm here. The two most significant events today were: 1) Meeting my host family. They are wonderful, and I promise to write a real post about them tomorrow, and 2) a friend in the group lost her wallet with all of her money and all of her cards inside. She was in hysterics (as I think we'd all be), and I was the only one nearby, so that stressed me out a bit, but it was good to help, too.

So, the point is: Here are 2 pictures of my room at my host family's house, because I couldn't post a picture of a wallet we do not have.

5-16 Daily Photo - Day 2

Day 2 was very interesting, but I didn't take any pictures; I spent most of the day at the hotel and visiting the nearby shops. Since I didn't take any pictures today, you get a video I took yesterday. About 7pm, I was walking back to the hostel, and I came upon this band/marching band playing music down by the river, and snapped a quick video! Enjoy!

5-15 Daily Photo

As promised, here is my first Daily Photo from Seville!
While waiting to meet with Abby, I marveled at the immense Cathedral in the middle of the city, which we chose for our meeting place! I plan to tour the inside soon!

I'm Here!

Let el camino sevillano begin! I am checked into my hostel in the heart of Seville. It is impossible to believe! This is just a quick post to let you know that I'm here, and that I'll be bringing this blog to life very quickly, now that I have things to post about! I'll post a "Photo of the Day" later, too.
For now, here's a picture of the cool roof at the gate at the Madrid airport. Without a doubt, the only good thing about that airport! I'll give more details about that later!

A Pre-Departure Birthday Gift

When I visited my family over Easter, my Aunt Cathy had a special surprise in store for me. She is an avid rug hooker, and she has a rather well-developed blog devoted to it. I have been really bad about checking in on her blog lately, so I completely missed the posts she made about my birthday gift! This is the beautiful little mat/rug she made for me:

 And here, you can see it in my freshly cleaned room:

She based her pattern on the compelling shape of the Cosmic Spiral. I love that it focuses on keeping a distinct center, while continuing to grow outward. The outward growth, in turn, develops and strengthens the center. It is such a perfect symbol for my upcoming journey in particular! I will definitely be bringing this to Seville with me; hopefully, it'll find a slightly more cozy place than in my drab college apartment!
Thanks Aunt Cathy, it's absolutely perfect!

The Story of El Camino Sevillano

Here's the car that was a partial inspiration for this blog's title! When I was about 8 years old, my family purchased this 1980 Chevrolet El Camino from my mom's uncle for $500. We had a friend put a simple paint job on it, and my dad and I have been working on it ever since. We've also entered it in several car shows, and have accumulated a handful of "Outstanding In Class" plaques. Some of the major improvements we've made:
- Replaced Engine: Small Block Chevy 305
- Aluminum Intake Manifold
- Replaced Transmission
- Replaced Wheels
Our next big project will be to replace the steering column, as it has slowly developed a major leak.

The title of the blog is also apropos when you consider the translation; El Camino means the way, the path, or the journey. This blog will be a record of my journey in Seville; The Sevillian Journey. I hope you are as pleased with this title as I am; I feel it does a good job of representing both a part of who I am and a part of my upcoming Seville experience!

Daily Photo Test #1

On a recent trip to Costa Rica, my dad and I spent our last night in this hotel!

Bienvenidos a El Camino Sevillano

You have found my newest blog, El Camino Sevillano.  You may be a friend, family member, or acquaintance of mine, or we may have never met. Nevertheless, you are welcome here. I invite you to follow me on my journey in Spain.

To begin, I want to explain what my program will look like. I am studying through The Center for Cross-Cultural Studies (CC-CS). I will, if registration goes as planned, be taking three courses during my stay in Seville. In May, I will take an intensive Spanish Language course; Summer Term 1 will be Spanish for the Health Professional; and Summer Term 2 will be Women Writers of Spain. I will also be taking a 1-credit service-learning course during term 2. My program begins May 16th and ends July 28th.

Now, to explain my plans, hopes, goals, and dreams for this blog (and other miscellaneous information about how this blog will be used).
     I hope to write a text post at least twice per week that will update my lovely readers about my experiences. These posts will range from discussions about my classes, to  my experiences in my home stay, to stories about all the wonderful shenanigans I am a part of while in Seville. I also want to include stories and info about my experiences working with CC-CS, especially leading up to my departure for Spain.
     One of my loftier goals is to have a page dedicated to "Daily Photo Posts." I want to post a photo, with a short text entry each day while I'm in Seville. They may not be a photo from that particular day, but I will try to keep them as recent as possible.
     Miscellaneous: I expect that my brain will be primarily functioning in Spanish while I am in Seville: especially toward the end of the trip. I also expect that my audience will include readers who speak and read only English, readers who speak/read only Spanish, and everything in between. As a result, this blog may have posts written entirely in one language or another, or they may be a mixture of both. To help my readers, regardless of their language proficiency, I plan to have Google-translated posts available. I realize the translations will not be perfect, but it's a start. I am not going to commit to writing every post in both languages, although I may occasionally do this!

Finally, if I do not fulfill any of these goals, I invite my readers to call me out on it! I am relying on you to be a support system for me, as many of you are already a part of my daily safety net.

Thanks for reading this rather long welcome post, and I look forward to building a strong relationship with my entire readership! Please do not hesitate to email me with any question, comments, constructive criticism, or suggestions at johnston.adam.r@gmail.com!

Update Regarding Daily Photos

I just wanted to let you know that, despite my efforts to prevent this, my daily photo posts will appear on the home page as well. You can go to the "Daily Photos" page to view only the photo posts. You can go to "Blog Posts" to view the blog without the Daily Photo posts. You can click the Header Image to see both text posts and my daily photos (i.e. you can see the normal home page). I'll update this if I find a way to work around this!