City Tour: Day 2

Our stairway has these awesome tiles. Note how steep it is!

This is the Plaza De Toros, the bullfighting ring. 

Bullfighting is still legal in Sevilla, and they kill 6 bulls per fight.

A cathedral. Duh..

This one is the WORLD'S largest gothic cathedral, ever. 

Casa No. 2

That humongous tree is a MAGNOLIA. 

Gotta be several hundred years old.

Me!!!! In front of the Plaza de Espana, 

where the Star Wars scene of Naboo was filmed.

My feets and some Spanish cobblestones.

A steeple of some sort. So many, I get them confused. 

Good Morning

The time difference is so weird! My laptop is still on California time, which is about 7 am on Thursday morning. But where I am, it is just after 4 pm on Thursday....my whole day is almost over just as my family's day is beginning.
I talked to Mom this morning when I woke up at 8 am, and it was 10 pm the day before where she was. So strange to say goodnight when you are just waking up!

Orientation was today. After breakfast with Rosa and Allison, we all three walked to the hotel where orientation was being held. We got dropped off and got to meet all of our professors and staff. We got packets of info and a map of Sevilla which is super helpful. At about 11 we had a coffee break. Oh my gosh A COFFEE BREAK IN SCHOOL. Best coffee ever too. Not only that, but they had "dulces" or little sweet bread type cookie snacks too. And this isn't like a 5 minute stretch break. It was a good 30-40 minutes of socializing with the teachers and students. So cool.

Then we got our cell phones! I have an international number that receives calls for free. It gets texts for 0.15 euros too. I am not sure how to dial it though, because of the country codes. Anyway try this number, see if it works.

011 34 653 048 203

The last 9 digits are what was assigned to me, the 011 is the country code, and 34 is the area code but I am not sure. I can call home, but it will charge me a certain amount of cents per minute. I'll buy a re-loadable card ASAP.

Anyway, I just had lunch and discussed with Rosa about family nicknames for at least two hours. That conversation definitely wore out Allison because she has been asleep for the past hour. I, on the other hand, enjoyed far to much coffee today and cannot sleep a wink of my designated "siesta" time.

In a few hours the entire SIS group is going on a nighttime walking tour of the city, led by two local college-aged Spaniards. I can't wait to see more of this city! So far I have noticed that everyone smokes, even the attractive young women, and the pigeons here are all albino. Also people peel all their fruit instead of washing it, which throws me off a little because the peel is my favorite part.
For lunch Rosa bought some plums that were bright yellow! By far the sweetest plums I have ever had. So yummy. I don't think I will ever get sick of having crusty french bread, cheese, and butter with every meal. Seriously no complaints in the food department.

Definitely loving Spain so far. I look up at the buildings and trees and just am so thankful for this opportunity. Gonna start missing you guys all here pretty soon, but just know I am having a wonderful time!

Day One

I did it. I am in Spain! I am writing this from my bunk bed in my baby blue bedroom that I share with my roommate, Allison, in Rosa's adorable apartment. There is absolutely too much for me to recount over the past 48 hours, so here are my highlights:

-Said goodbye to Carson and Mom at the house at 4 am. Dad drove me to the airport where he dropped me off at security. I thought I had it all together, but seeing him say "I love you!" as I went the opposite direction completely tore me apart. I got to my gate without problems, luckily noticed that they changed by gate (three times!) and after a mini-heart attack I ended up in the right place, headed to Washington DC.
-The flight to DC, if I can remember...it feels so long ago, was about 5 hours. I sat next to a man with two cell phones who said a total of two words to me ("It's cold"). I fell asleep at take of, woke up for breakfast, and slept until landing. The flight attendants called me "sleepyhead."
-I had a two hour layover in DC where I found my gate for Aer Lingus flights. This flight was amazing. I get on the airbus plane and everything in sight is green. The seats...oh the seats. 100% fully automatic electronic LAY FLAT seats (THANK YOU DAD!) for a sweet 8 hours. And the food they served was out of this world. Camabert cheese (Carson!) for dessert, tiger prawns for an appetizer, and grilled salmon with crab on top for dinner. Oh man. I was giddy. After they fed us, they turned out the lights and I slept for a few hours, listening to Fun and Bon Iver on their demand station. They woke me up for breakfast and coffee and then I was in Madrid!
-The airport in Madrid is probably the cleanest airport I have ever seen. Absolutely gorgeous bright orange vaulted ceilings that Mom would have taken a picture of. I had a 5 hour layover here so I went to get a snack. I went to the 24 hour McDonald's where I got a KIT KAT MCFLURRY WITH CHOCOLATE SAUCE! I decided everything would be okay since they have my favorite candy bar in ice cream form. Loved it.
-Time flew by and then I was meeting Allison at the gate! She is so adorable, probably about 5 foot 1 or 2 tops, with red hair. We instantly got along, boarded our hour long flight to Sevilla, and got on a bus to meet our hosts.
-We hopped off the bus and met Rosa, our host mom. She is so old and cute and calls me "bonita" and "carina" which means "beautiful" and "darling." We kissed on each cheek and she led us up the road to her apartment.
-After hilariously lugging two 50+ pound suitcases and our carry ons up a flight of TINY stairs, we arrived at a little midget door, our home for the next semester. The walls are lime green. The cabinets are lime green. My room is baby blue. IT IS SO CUTE. Probably the whole house is the size of my bedroom at home, no joke. There is a dishwasher next to the oven and we dry our clothes on the balcony! Rosa gave us a tour, told us she ONLY speaks Spanish and refuses to learn one word of English, but was absolutely a wonderful hostess.
-For lunch we had chicken marinated in white wine with onions, bread, cheese, and salad. Probably the best olive oil I have ever tasted. Maybe I'll bring some back hint hint. For dessert we had peaches and a little baby pears.
-After cleaning up, Allison and I unpacked our stuff into Ikea cabinets prepared for us. I decided to take a shower, but oh my word that was a challenge. You have to hold the nozzle in your hand as you shower in an area about the size of your two feet together. And there is a strange foot washing type thing in the bathroom which I have yet to ask about. SO many things are different here!
-Promptly I knocked out on my bed for about three hours. Best nap of my life, bar none. Currently Rosa is preparing dinner and then we are going for a stroll.

There is so much SO MUCH more about all the little things I probably forgot. Like Spanish flight attendants look like models, and people call WiFi "wee fee."

I am over the moon excited about this semester and so thankful that today went smoothly. Sorry for no pictures, but I promise there will be more to come!

My skype works for international video and voice calls, so email me to set up a time! I am 9 hours ahead of California, but I would love to see some familiar faces soon.

More to come!

Reading Material

Today I was surprised to find a package on my doorstep! The package was an amazing book entitled "Culture Shock: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette," sent from our lovely friend Regina. I was so excited to get a package, let alone such a practical and useful present. I promptly read and highlighted the entire book, and learned a bunch of helpful hints. Who knew that it is impolite to keep your hands below the dinner table? And kissing people on the cheek is common, even to strangers! I was pumped to learn that Spaniards are among the most fashion forward and stylish of Europeans; maybe some shopping is in my future! So thank you again, Reg, for such an awesome book!

So excited :)

Last night Daddy and I spent time on Google Maps looking at my new home! It was awesome to see the exact place where I will be living as well as the school where I will be studying. It's so close to a bunch of places, including a sushi restaurant and a Haagen Dazs! Looks like it won't be that bad ;)