On being a student, Christopher Columbus, and homesickness

I think I could start every blog post talking about how time passes both quickly and slowly here. The contrast between how sometimes I feel that I have all the time in the world and sometimes no time at all continually catches me off guard. Suffice to say that time felt weird when I first arrived, and still feels weird a month into my semester.

My normal classes started two weeks ago, and while adjusting to being a student again was a little rough, I’m happy to have a full schedule to keep me busy. I have two classes that are taught at the University of Sevilla, one about the cultural anthropology of Latin America and another about the history of Christianity, Judaism and Islam in Spain. Like the intensive two-week course I took, both of these classes have reminded me of how much I enjoy learning about history. My class on Latin America has been particularly interesting, because there have been few instances in my education where I’ve been taught about the history of the region outside of Columbus’ “discovery” of the continent (Shout out to my high school history teacher Mr. Muñoz for taking the time to teach our class about civilizations in Latin America prior to European arrival, and for being one of the best educators I’ve ever had!).

The perspective surrounding Columbus, and colonization in general, in Spain has been interesting to see. In my personal experience here, people still refer to it as the "discovery of the Americas", without much reference to the fact that there were already many groups populating the continent at the time, or the violence that resulted from Spanish colonization. Certainly, within my own community, and I think within my generation in general, no one refers to Columbus’ arrival as a discovery and conversations tend to be about the lasting negative impacts of colonization. We’re the generation that has protested to have Columbus Day turned into Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which I think says a lot about our views. I don’t want to make the generalization that all Spaniards celebrate Columbus as a national hero, because I am positive that that’s not true. But I do wonder where these differences in perspective come from and develope, and how our respective histories as the colonizer and the colony shape the way we talk about our history. It’s a complicated subject, and there’s no way that I could expand on all of my thoughts about it in one blog post, but I thought I’d mention it, because it’s something that’s been on my mind.

The other two classes I’m in are taught at my program’s study center and are about bilingualism, and human rights. They’re both fascinating and confusing, and not just because they’re taught in Spanish. Although getting into the nitty gritty of the philosophy of human rights often leaves me feeling profoundly confused about how the UN member states ever came to an agreement on them, it’s still an interesting subject to learn about. My class on bilingualism always gets me thinking about my own life, all of the different contexts in which I learned Spanish, and how being bilingual affects me today. I’m excited to see where these classes go over the course of the semester.

Adjusting to things outside of school also seems to be going relatively well. I’ve now been stopped and asked for directions twice, which I hope means that I look like the kind of person who knows her way around the city. My host mom still corrects my grammar pretty frequently, but I can understand most of the news on TV, so I’m going to consider that progress. I still get homesick, for Denver and for Madison. I went to Granada this weekend and being in the Sierra Nevada made me miss the Rockies like crazy. There have been times when I’ve missed my family more than I thought possible, and those moments are always the hardest. It’s then that I feel grateful for the wonders of modern technology (WhatsApp video calling is my life line), and for the friends I have here in Sevilla who are always willing to be there when I’m feeling lonely. There’s a tendency to think of study abroad is like one long, happy vacation and it can feel like that sometimes. But, like with anything, there are ups and downs. The nice thing is that the good days outweigh the bad. 

Hasta luego,

Elisa