My first REAL day in Spain!

Yay! Today was my first real day in Spain and it was so great! Here´s a little update on my activities the past 24 hours, including a little bit of yesterday!

Yesterday, I ended up spending a good amount of time hanging out with some friends. I ran in to Rachel who goes go Whitworth, and it was so unbelievably nice to see a familiar face. We ate dinner together and she introduced me to a couple of the people she had already met. So far, everyone is really nice. I definitely feel a little bit old here, as most students are from the class of 2010 or 2011, but I think it´s going to be fine. After dinner yesterday, a bunch of students went out for a drink, but I was too tired, so Rachel, Liza (a new friend) and I went and took a walk around the block. The city is so interesting! We found a cute little outdoor cafe offering free salsa lessons, and we just watched for a while.

Around 10:15, we went back to the hotel and I was so exhausted! I got all ready for bed, but then my roommate arrived! I was so happy to meet her! I guess she had some really big travel inconveniences that left her arriving so late. Anyways, she´s just as tiny as I had imagined and incredibly sweet. She has a very soft-spoken voice and, from what I can tell, is incredibly kind. My language skills are a little bit better than hers, so I´ve been her stand-in translator.

This morning, we woke up early, at breakfast (I had frosted flakes--very exotic!) and then we packed up all our stuff. After that, we took a walking tour and saw parts of old Sevilla. Man, is it BEAUTIFUL! The buildings are gorgeous--they´re all brightly colored and covered in beautiful mosaic tiles. The city is definitely historic and definitely old. It´s funny, because it reminds me a lot of Guanajuato, which, is one of my favorite foreign countries. Anyways, the city tour ended at the Center, and we got to see where I´ll have class. The building is beautiful, but the classrooms are pretty small. I guess that means small class sizes! After introductions with the staff, we took a lovely language placement exam, which I didn´t think was all that bad. Hopefully, I´ll be placed in the advanced level classes, because that´s what I really want! After the test, we made our way back to the hotel and hopped in a cab for our home!

My home is a good distance from the center of town, but it is so cute! Instead of being an apartment, it´s an actual little home (though it has no yard whatsoever). Chelsea and I have the entire second floor to ourselves, with a little sitting room, bathroom, and then our bedroom, which is fairly good -sized. The roof has two levels which are flat and perfect for outdoor studying. I´m really excited about it! Our host mom is great. Her name is Rosario and she is a widow. She loves to chat and has hosted students for many years, making her an expert host, I guess. After a quick tour of the house and a jaunt to the store to buy bus passes, I took a looong nap--I was so tired! I finally woke up around 3:00, and we headed downstairs for lunch. Lunch was delicious. My host mom is a very good cook and she has taken all of my dietary concerns to heart--there was no dairy! I´m really excited about living there. We chatted while we ate, and now I´m back at the center. We just finished orientation for the computeres (it only took about 10 minutes...) and in about 20 minutes we´re having a charla (chat) with all of the professors here at CCCS. Overall, it´s been a good day! It´s really convenient, because Rachel and her roommate live about 4 minutes from Chelsea and I, making it really easy for us to all hang out and spend time together. I´m really pleased with the arrangements.

Tomorrow we take a trip to a monastery and then the beach! I´m pretty excited. It´s going to be nice! Until a little bit later...

-M