Sevilla Airport

After work today I rode with a few colleagues to Sevilla. I have to say, the city is just as great as I remember. I even saw a few of the same places as when I came in 2006. Unfortunately, this is my first time in the Seville Airport so in order to make sure I did not miss my flight, I arrived early. Much earlier than necessary apparently. I got to the airport about 6:15 p.m. The gate closes at 8:45 p.m. Getting my passport checked and through security went by rapidly, which is great. But now I am stuck in the airport for another hour and a half with nothing to do.

I am flying to London via RyanAir. They have some weird polices such as having to print your own ticket before you arrive. As if the ticket is not expensive enough, if you fail to bring your boarding pass already printed, they will charge you another 40 euros. You are also only allowed one carry-on back. On every other airline I have flown with, a person is allowed one carry-on and one personal item. Not with Ryan Air. To be safe I managed to consolidate my suitcase into one backpack. After I change hotels I will probably wash a few clothes in the bathtub (as I did when I first arrived in Spain), and hang them in the closet to dry.

Unfortunately there is no free internet in the airport at Sevilla (not that I expected there to be). So I am writing this blog by using a word processor. Luckily, blogger allows me to edit the timestamp on posts. At least in the future I will know that I can spend a little more time walking around Sevilla. 

--- 1:30 a.m. in London UPDATE---

The plane left 30 minutes late and we arrived 30 minutes late to Stansted airport. It took about 20 minutes to get through customs/border patrol. They don't seem to like visitors too much. At the airport almost everyone was speaking Spanish and when we got on the airplane there was almost no Spanish. It feels a little strange to be speaking English and I am just waiting to blurt something out in Spanish by accident--that isn't such a bad thing.

Behaviors

There are so many things that are different in cultures. I have been blogging about many of those differences that I have noticed between Spain and the southern United States. Student life is another one of those differences I have seen. 

When I first arrived, I expected the system to be much better than our own. I expected students to be better behaved. After looking at the schedule I thought the students had to be more committed to their education. But some things transcend cultural boundaries.  Students here try to find ways to delay tests (or parts of a test). Students like to talk to each other. Honestly, what I have seen turns out to be even more lax than in the United States.

On Thursday, the local police came to give a presentation to level one and two students. It was in the gym so the level four class I was with that hour also attended. There were not enough chairs for everyone so some students sat in the floor in the back, others stood along the edges of the gym. Many of those students were talking to each other ignoring the police. Others were rolling around in the floor.

Something else we have noticed is how the students address the teachers. In the United States we refer to our teachers (and elders) as Mr. or Ms. (last name). Here that is not the case. Students call teachers by their first names. The first time I heard it I wasn’t sure if I had heard correctly. But later I realized I did.