Hey everyone! Hope you all had a great weekend! I've been waiting to write because I knew I'd have a lot to report tonight. On Sunday I was put in contact with my host Rotary club at last! I spoke to a man named Ignacio and he arranged for me to come with him to the club's meeting tonight. We met in front of the Basilica de la Macarena (its a beautiful old church near where I live) and rode together to the club's meeting, which is held at the Hotel Melia Sevilla. The hotel was beautiful with very modern decorations and we headed up to one of the private meeting rooms.
The structure of the meeting was similar to meetings at the Mason-Deerfield Club, but also very different. There was a period of about 30 minutes before the meeting started where everyone had drinks and tapas and just chatted, very much the Spanish way. Though the meeting was set to start at 9, people showed up when they could and the meeting officially got going at around 9:45. The meeting began with the ringing of the bell and a brief prayer before everyone was seated at they got down to business. The major business of the meeting was preparation for something they do every year called Sevillano del Año. It is a essentially a Man/Woman of the Year Award for someone in Sevilla. It is someone who is very involved in the city in terms of work, culture, the arts, etc. They talked a lot about securing sponsorships and collaborators. The club also has a dinner once a month where they just get together and hang out, without doing anything business related. They really seemed to be a close knit group of friends, and I look forward to attending the dinner this Friday! The club also puts on a golf tournament every year, which sounds similar to the Mason golf outing, and this February will be the 8th annual outing.
After all matters of business were discussed, I got to talk a little bit about myself and my role there as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. My host counselor is a doctor who specializes in Public Health, so he is going to be a great resource. Even though the club was entirely men (about 18 total), I felt extremely welcomed. Tomorrow night I will be attending the meeting of another club in the city. Sevilla has 2 major clubs and although the meeting I attended tonight was my official host club, they want me to meet all of the Rotarians of the city. I'm looking forward to meeting more people tomorrow! I exchanged flags with the Club of Sevilla and took several pictures with the President of the club. He has promised to send me the pictures, so hopefully I will be able to post them soon! I know I've been talking a lot and not taking many pictures, but I've been so preoccupied I've just forgotten to take my camera anywhere! I'll try to get some pictures posted soon!
My classes officially begin tomorrow, and I'm very nervous! I don't really know what to expect, but I'm sure I can adapt as always :) My host counselor has contacts in the Department so he has said he will contact them so they know about my role as an Ambassadorial Scholar. My host club has also promised to help me with the ever-present bank account situation! There are several Rotarians that are bankers and they are going to pull some strings for me :) It feels great to have some solid contacts in the city and it makes me even more excited for what this year will bring!
Tomorrow's Rotary meeting will present an interesting comparison, so I'll write tomorrow when I get back! As always, thanks for reading, and let me know if you have any questions!
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