Rotary Club of Sevilla-Centro

My first days back in Sevilla have been quite busy! I have had three consecutive nights of Rotary meetings, not to mention class and prácticas every morning. I think being so busy has helped me to get over the jet lag and get back into my routine in Sevilla. As I said in my previous post, Monday I went to my weekly meeting with the Rotary Club of Sevilla (my host club). The Rotary Club of Sevilla-Macarena meets on Tuesday nights, and it had been about a month since I had been to one of their meetings, so on Tuesday I decided to go to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Then on Wednesday night I made my first visit to the Rotary Club of Sevilla-Centro, the newest addition to the Rotary family in Sevilla.

The Rotary Club of Sevilla-Centro has been in formation for about a year now and in December they reached 20 members and were able to request a charter from Rotary International. On December 23, 2010, they received the official news that their charter was accepted, so they are now an official Rotary club! In the coming months they will be hosting their Inauguration Dinner as a newly formed club. It was an exciting time to visit the club, because they are in the midst of brainstorming and really developing an identity for their club. For example, one of the topics of the meeting was selecting a design for their banner. I was able to show them the Mason-Deerfield banner to give them some ideas about the best way to represent themselves in flag-form. Of course, I can't talk about a new meeting without mentioning the food! The meeting was set up as a sit-down dinner with several courses. First came a selection of cured meats (typical). Next was an interesting tapa that I had never tried before. It was langostina (mini-lobster) wrapped in eggplant and cheese and then fried. I'm a big fan of eggplant, so I enjoyed it. Next came some delicious croquettas (croquettes-fried balls of dough, in this case with jamón and cheese). The main course was a type of white fish. The Rotarians were debating whether it was corbina or lupina, which according to my dictionary, both translate as sea bass. I'm not sure what the difference between the two is, but I really enjoy sea bass and this was particularly good. Finally dessert was a tarta de manzana (an apple pie or tart). It was a small tartlet with an apple-cheese-cream filling (that is the best way I can think to describe it).

At the beginning of the week I was a bit overwhelmed at the idea of going to Rotary meetings on three consecutive nights. Mostly because, although the food is good, it is a bit heavy to eat all the time and a lot of times I prefer to eat dinner at home. It ended up being a very interesting experience to visit all three clubs of Sevilla back to back. I could really do a direct comparison of all of the clubs and see what makes each of them unique. The Rotary Club of Sevilla, as I have described before, is the oldest club. Its members are older and meetings function a lot like a board meeting. Dinner is eaten before the meeting begins then everyone sits down when the meeting officially begins. The Rotary Club of Sevilla-Macarena is younger and more formal. The president always goes through the day's schedule in a very organized way, but there are almost always tangents and discussions that diverge from the plan. In the Macarena waiters bring out trays of tapas during the meeting so that people are eating throughout the meeting. Sevilla-Centro is the youngest of the clubs (both in terms of its charter and the age of its members). As I said, the meeting was set up more like a formal sit down dinner where the orders of business were discussed during the whole meal. From my perspective, Sevilla-Centro seemed to be the most intimate and as they say in Spanish, "de amigos," meaning that everyone just seemed to be really good friends. It is great to see so much diversity in the Rotary community in Sevilla. It seems like there is a place for everyone. A Sevillano would be welcomed in any of the three clubs, but by having three very different groups of people a person is able to pick the club in which they fit in best.

On a different note, yesterday I had my last práctica for my Epidemiology class, and Monday is the final day of my Preventive Medicine prácticas. Next week classes finish up then I'm on to exams! It is great to be back in Sevilla and I cannot wait for all of the exciting things that are going to happen this spring!