This weekend has been very relaxing! On Friday we decided to just have a low key night and met up with some girls at a mexican restaurant called Tex Mex. The four of them had been there last week at the same time and on the same day. They told us margaritas there were 2.50 each so we all ordered some. Turns out after hanging out there for a while, the margaritas were actually 5 euros each. Wasn't a huge deal for those of us that didn't order very many, but 2 of the girls ordered 6 each and with food and drinks totaled spent 70 euros. We felt really bad for them, but at least we all learned a lesson to ask how much drinks are before ordering them! Who knows whether or not they were actually 5 euros or whether they were just ripping us off.


Colleen and I went home after that (well we stopped at a bar and got Pringles out of a vending machine---they were too cute to pass up!). We had to wake up early on Saturday (and by that I mean 9:30ish--but hey it was before our parents woke up!) to go to Italica. Italica is about 20 minutes outside of Sevilla and is essentially Roman ruins. Mostly it was just a bunch of rocks and was pretty boring. There was a pretty cool coliseum there which is apparently the 3rd largest in the world.

Artsy photo of me and two girls at one of the doors to the coliseum 

Gabi and I at the center of the coliseum 

When we got back to Sevilla, I finally got the pizza I'd been craving! Turns out I was somewhat of a trend setter because about 15 other people joined us. It was the best pizza I think I'd ever had (also helped that I happened to be starving). We had been told that we could just have leftovers because our family was going out for lunch with some friends who were visiting. Then of course we find out later that the kids are getting pizza for lunch while their parents go out drinking....and we had to eat the leftovers we missed at lunch. But I'm not sure I would have made it to dinner anyways. The kids were actually watching the Parent Trap in spanish last night! Except apparently in Spanish it's called, "Tu a Londres y yo a California". Very odd.

Anyways last night we went out to watch a Barcelona futbol game (which is becoming quite a habit I guess). We stayed out pretty late but had a pretty good time. I did start to get a bad migrane but luckily it didn't last for too long.

This morning Colleen set an alarm to wake up early and go find this animal market we had read about online. They were supposed to have tons of puppies there every Sunday morning until 2. Unfortunately, we rode all around both locations we had heard of and couldn't find it. We asked a policeman and apparently animal markets are illegal in Sevilla. After doing some research apparently they have shut it down :( So I didn't get in my puppy fix for this week. Colleen and I both miss our dogs!

When we came back home our parents were preparing the paella for lunch. They had company over and we didn't end up eating until 3:45. I was starving but it was delicious! Our parents are still out in the family room drinking...which I think they do more of than we do. Last night Luis (the dad) came into our room twice just to ask us what we were doing. He was clearly pretty tipsy but it made for a good laugh.

On a final note, Colleen and I have partly planned another trip! We're planning on taking a trip during our week long spring break the first week in April to 3 different countries. We'd fly into Dublin, Ireland, stay there for 2.5 days, fly to Amsterdam, stay there for 2 days and then take a train to Berlin. Traveling expenses total will be around 350 euros which isn't too bad for 3 countries! I mean then obviously we'll spend money on hostals and food but I think it'll be worth it.

Well that's all I have to say for now! We're going to go watch the UNC game tonight which I'm pretty excited for. Go heels! Talk to you guys later!!

So immediately after my last posting, I turned to Colleen and asked her, "Do you know what I could really go for right now?" And as soon as she said, "iceream?" we were out the door. It was a little after 11 on a Tuesday and we had a hard time finding a place that was open in our neighborhood. In fact the only thing we could find was a McDonalds. So we ordered 2 McFlurrys that quite honestly hit the spot. They are way smaller here but you get to choose which flavor syrup to put on it and they add the toppings so its more of a sundae than anything else.

Anyways the next day I had my presentation for my language class which went well considering I put off working on it until that afternoon. Oh! I also booked my flight to Italy. Four of us girls (and possibly more) are leaving at the end of February to fly into Milan, stay there for a night, and then take the train to Florence for 3 days. The round trip airfare was 80 euros which is a very good deal considering how expensive flying into Italy can be.

We had a test yesterday in my culture class which went well. Colleen and I procrastinated studying by going out the night before to watch what turned out to be a VERY exciting Barcelona versus Real Madrid futbol game. We tried to order desert there but the wait was too long so at halftime we left to go to the grocery store to get chocolates. They are extremely cheap here for a huge bar of chocolate. Every time I open one I start to sing "I've got the Golden Ticket" because they sort of remind me of Willy Wonka bars. They are dangerous though. Cheap dark chocolate bars in grocery stores that I pass at least three times a day are almost irresistible. Then once I start eating one it's impossible to stop. Guess I'll need to start running a little more often! I went for a quick run this morning. I'm starting to really hate the mean looks the older ladies give me when they see me running around....

Last night a big group of us planned to meet up down by the river to hang out for a while before going to out to a discoteca. Colleen and I had invested in a 1.50 euro bottle of wine last week as well as a 3 euro bottle opener. Unfortunately the cheap bottle opener got stuck in the equally cheap bottle of wine and we were without either. So last night I was feeling particularly McGivery and decided to carve out the cork so as not to waste our bottle of wine. We only had a little bit of it left to get out when we decided it would just be easier to push the cork down into the wine rather than try and carve the rest out. Well our lack of physics knowledge caught up to us as the pressure made the wine burst out from the cork and went EVERYWHERE. Red wine on Colleen's starch white button down, red wine on her sheets, some on the curtains, some on the walls. I have never reacted so quickly to a liquid spilling in my entire life. We tag teamed going to get vinegar, milk, salt and multipurpose cleaner from the kitchen (the babysitter was very confused) and soaked everything to no end. Colleen's shirt looks better than I would have thought possible and the walls are hardly noticeable anymore. It's very impressive. Elbow grease certainly came in handy! Needless to say we were late meeting up with our friends but it's a good story to have. Oh and the best part, the cork is still in the bottle. Don't know how that's possible but the bottle of wine must be cursed. We're throwing it away today.

In other news, I've gotten a pretty good handle on the Sevici system here. It's a shared bike system that you can use all around the city. I've had a few problems what with machines not working or bikes not being available but all in all it's been very handy (and a much quicker way to get around)!

Renting out my first Sevici bike. Very touristy I know

The family here has been great recently! Maria is definitely my favorite....she randomly will come as Colleen and I if we want chocolate. Who wouldn't like a 9 year old like that? Plus yesterday she had an English test and asked me and Colleen to help her study. Carmen has been out of school all week sick and has been particularly sassy. She is cute and all but she's still a 4 year old. She did draw me a picture yesterday of a christmas tree and still insists I sit next to her at every meal. Luis is also doing very well. He has lots of games coming up and wants us to come to one in February. Pilar and papa Luis have also been really good. No complaints yet! Although I've strongly been craving pizza recently. It was on the menu for Friday dinner but she just told us were having fish instead. Might have to make a late night run for some tonight....

Well I must go get ready for class. Hasta pronto!

Big Plans Ahead

Hello again everyone! Sorry my posting has not been very consistent lately. I'm trying my best to write every other days but it doesn't always work out as I hope--but hey if I'm having trouble finding time to blog then that's probably a good thing, right? Anyways Sunday was a very lazy day for me. I slept in embarassingly late to try to get rid of my cold (which by the way is now almost completely gone!) and then the only noteworthy thing I did was go on a nice long run around the city. I had my iPod on the loudest it would go but still heard the sounds of 2 cars honking at me (women don't run too often here and if they do they certainly don't wear the short Nike running shorts like we do in America!).

After that I booked some very exciting trips with some other friends to Carnaval in Cadiz on February 18th and to Morocco for the weekend of March 16th through the 18th. Carnaval in Cadiz is apparently the 3rd largest carnaval in the world. I'm on the lookout for cool costume ideas if anyone has any! And Morocco is also going to be really cool. Our trip includes some tours and a camel ride--which if nothing else I want to do just to have the picture of! Plus I'd like to be able to say I've been to Africa. 

As if these plans weren't enough, I think tomorrow a group of us are going to try to book a flight to Rome for a very long weekend in late February. We want to fly into Rome on a Thursday, stay there til Sunday and then visit Florence Sunday through Tuesday. I'm probably most excited about the prospects of this trip! (Let's just hope I don't exceed my credit card limit for this month!)

Yesterday Colleen and I explored the city for a while looking for this plaza called Plaza de America. We'd seen pictures of other people feeding birds there and we thought the photo opp was too good to pass up. After a short detour for a cafe con leche (which by the way are absolutely delicious here--I've even got Colleen who previously didn't like coffee drinking them), we bought some bird feed and had quite the adventure. Once they realize you have food there is no stopping them from swarming you! It was very very fun but I was just glad I had on longsleeves since they're claws are extra sharp. Once we ran out of food, I still had one stubborn one that wouldn't get off my head! It all made for a very good time and some very funny pictures!

These past few nights have been very interesting. Carmen, the four year old, has had a terrible cough and wakes up throughout the night. Now in the U.S., or at least in my house, if a child is little and wakes up in the middle of the night and wants their parents, the child simply gets out of his or her bed and goes to the parents room. Here, or at least in our house, Carmen simply screams at the top of her lungs PAPA! MAMA! over and over again til they come in. It's been a little hard to sleep through to say the least. These past 2 days there has been a bit of tension in the air in the house just because Luis (the dad, not the son) has been relaying messages to us through Pilar. Pilar is the sweetest homestay mom anyone could ask for but I guess Luis can be a little cranky (although he's always pretty nice to our face). Anyways we were told we close the doors too loudly at night, but honestly I don't think I could possibly close them any quieter. The walls to our apartment are just paper thin and for some reason everyone leaves their bedroom doors wide open! It will take some practicing I guess. And then today Colleen was asked not to take showers before 8 or after 10 because Luis always wakes up at the slightest noises. That one is a little more manageable although the kids are often showering for bed around 9:30 and we finish dinner around 9. I guess its just adapting to a different culture. Hopefully we've been doing a pretty good job about keeping our showers short (I've never showered this fast in my life), not having too much laundry (we try to rewear everything before putting it in the hamper), etc. We actually just got our first load of laundry back today. It only took 3 or 4 days (they hang things on clothing lines here--no one has a dryer and they iron EVERYTHING....yes underwear and old t-shirts included.)

Today we also went to visit the cathedral and did a tour of it with our teacher Fernando. It was pretty inside, but honestly it was much prettier outside. My favorite part was the view from the tower. There are no stairs getting up to the top but instead one long winding ramp (so that people could ride horses up it). You can see the entire city from up there! 

View from the top!

Some friends and I on the ramp getting up to the cathedral!

No real other news to show for now! I have a powerpoint presentation tomorrow in my Language class on homosexual marriage in Spain--which is legal by the way. So I best get to working on it! Hasta pronto :)

It feels like we've been here for so long! It's absolutely crazy that it's only been a week and a half.

I found out yesterday that I won't be having any Friday classes once I start my classes at the University! Traveling will be much easier over long weekends now! I'm taking 2 classes at EUSA (a foreign exchange student building) which will be Spain and Islam and a Spanish literature class. At the university I'll be taking a History of Movies class and a Geography of Andalucia class. I emailed the professors to ask if I could take the exams early and they both responded that I could (exams here are for a 2 month period of time so they last through all of June and July---very different from UNC's intense 2 week long exam period!). The best part is that I think I should be able to make it home in time for my cousin Ann's wedding on the 9th of June (granted, i'll be extremely jet lagged, but everyone knows you don't want to miss a Barber family wedding).

I wish I had more news to report but as it turns out I've had the worst cold the past few days (all thanks to Carmen who has had a runny nose/cough for a while and loves to climb all over me). So last night Colleen and I both decided that the excursion to Ronda just wouldn't be worthwhile. Plus our plan to rent the two cars never worked out because the company overbooked us so we were going to have to wake up at 8 to go buy tickets. When it gets warmer I'm sure we'll all go. So today should be a very relaxing day. I think we're going to go eat some gelato and maybe get a cafe con leche. Then tonight the Sevilla v. Betis game comes on which is a big rivalry here so we're going to go out to dinner and watch it. Luis just told us that they have season tickets to the Sevilla home games and that they're going to have extras at the Villareal v. Sevilla game. I was willing to pay 25 euros for a ticket but free sounds pretty good too!

Well I must go as Maria is bugging us about teaching her new english words. Hasta luego!

Yesterday was a pretty fun filled day. We started off by waking up early (11:00 for us) and went to get our pictures made for our university IDs. After that we ate spaghetti for lunch with Carmen. We hung around the house for a while and then walked over to a little coffee shop down the street. We spent a good two hours just chatting and drinking our coffee (the coffee con leche here is incredible) and then at 5:30 headed over to our first class! It was really nice to finally do something productive. The first half of the class was spent with our professor Angeles in the language section of the course. We played typical name games to introduce ourselves and then she just started talking about everything that was due. Seems like there will be a fair amount of work but it shouldn't be too bad. After all, its just one class for three weeks, and you only have to get a 5 out of 10 to receive UNC credit for it. The second half of the course is culture and it's taught by a much more laid back professor named Fernando. He doesn't speak any english, smells strongly of cigarettes, and has one of the largest beer bellies I've seen here. (Cigarettes are suprisingly far more common here--its not really looked down upon as much as it is in the US. A lot of other people in the program have senoras that smoke constantly. Luckily Pilar and Luis don't!)

When we got back home from class at 8:30 we showed our little brother Luis our homework from cultural class and he was so excited to help. We had to fill out maps of the communidades autonomos in Spain and their capitals. Luis practically did it for us! For language we had homework but our teacher conveniently forgot to tell us to buy the book ahead of time so we had to go find the book today.

Yes, we took a first day of school picture!

Dinner was once again delicious. Barcelona was playing Madrid tonight so our parents were having Luis' brother and his girlfriend over to watch the game. We ate chicken with "poor man's potatoes" and some other random appetizers--including shrimp which still have their eyes on here! We watched a little bit of the game with our parents and really felt like we bonded! Apparently Pilar speaks 4 languages and studied English for 4 years in Ireland (where she met Luis when they were both 17)! Who knew she could understand us when we were talking in english! It was really great to get to know them on a more personal level. Apparently Pilar really wants to send little Luis to Ireland to study next year but Luis really doesn't want to. It also is starting to make more sense why they take in Americans once a year. Not only because Pilar was once in our shoes, but also because she knows how important it is for her kids to learn english. 

Later that night we met up with a bunch of people for a free sangria party through this company called DiscoverSevilla. Everyone seems really big on the idea of booking trips through them, but I personally think its kind of a rip off. If they can afford an office in the nicest and most expensive part of town, they must be making a ton off of us! But the free sangria was too good of a deal to pass up! After a while they took us around to this discoteca called Abril that was conveniently very close to our house. (The DiscoverSevilla people kept trying to convince all of us to split cabs so they wouldn't have to walk, but we are all far too cheap to pay for cabs. Plus the city is to beautiful not to walk through) For some reason the promoter for the club we went to gave someone 30 free beer coupons so no one had to pay for drinks at all that night! Pretty sweet deal, huh?

Well I'm off to get some work done before class! Hope all is well with everyone else! 

Pictures as promised

The ferris wheel close to our house

The front of the university where I'll be taking classes. Not too shabby.

La Plaza de Espana--we just stumbled across this yesterday!

Colleen and I outside of the Plaz

The best picture I've taken so far of the cathedral. Still doesn't do it justice. And its so much prettier at night!

With Carmen!

Getting to know the city

Let me just start of by saying how huge this city is!! I don't know what I was expecting but this is bigger than anything I could have imagined. Colleen and I have yet to go a day without getting lost. Today we had an excursion to the reales alcazares where the spanish royal family stays sometimes. It was gigantic! We walked around on our tour with our professor for an hour and a half and still only saw what he said was about 30 percent of it. Afterwards, we ate our bocadillos at a cafe inside the palace grounds (which apparently we weren't allowed to do but luckily we didn't get in trouble until after we had finished eating). Our mom also packed us this juice boxes that were milk and fruit mixed together...I did not try it! After a quick siesta, we bought new notebooks (couldn't find any wideruled and apparently people her prefer to write on graph paper? Very odd). Then we explored a whole new part of our neighborhood, Nervion, and found new stores and restaurants very close to us! The historic district or el centro is still definitely my favorite. The cathedral here is absolutely breathtaking and enormous! I would put up a picture but I've yet to take one that truly does it justice. I think its just something you have to see in person to fully appreciate. Yesterday we slept in late and went to a meeting with some other people on our program to talk about a possible trip this weekend. We're going to rent two cars (22 euros per car for two days!)and drive to Ronda for the day on Saturday, come back here hopefully in time to watch the Sevilla v. Betis game at a bar (Just watching the crowd at this things is so entertaining--everyone yells, chants, and even sings throughout it. Can't wait to go to a game soon--the Sevilla stadium is 5 minutes from our house and our homestay family is big Sevilla fans), and then on Sunday we're going to take a day trip somewhere else too--just haven't figured out where! Our homestay family is apparently going to Portugal this weekend after Luis' basketball game on Saturday morning (Colleen and I are really bummed we won't be able to go). After the meeting a group of us went to explore Los Remedios (a different neighborhood that a lot of students live in--we live in Nervion). It was beautiful there too! You have to cross over the river to get there but it is well worth the trip. Its so hard to wrap my mind around the size of this city--Kevin was right in telling me that I will keep finding new places the whole time I'm here.

Tomorrow is our first day of class. (It was supposed to be yesterday but the program director's wife died suddenly from a heart attack on Sunday so classes were cancelled). We will just be taking one class of culture and language for three weeks and then we'll start our classes at the university (university students are still finishing up their first semester). I've yet to finalize what I'm going to be taking--the Spanish system of finding classes is so disorganized...WAY worse than ConnectCarolina. Just to look up one class, I have to go to the department page, find the class name, make sure its offered this semester, check the teacher's name and then go to a completely different website to see when it's being offered. Then I have to figure out the exam times to make sure it will be before I go back to the US. Not to mention the fact that most classes are full right now and the professors don't post the amount of available seats online. I'm going to try to figure it all out tonight!

My homestay family is doing really well too. I think they come in our rooms sometimes when we're not home because I found my book for school under the sink in the bathroom...although none of them admitted to having taken it. It's a mystery! Also it turns out all 3 of them are going to have their birthdays while we're over here! And Maria is going to have her first communion (which is a HUGE deal here). When I asked if Colleen and I were invited, Luis said of course because we are pretty....not sure what that has to do with being able to go to the communion but we took the compliment anyways! Luis has had a few friends over and each time he tells them that Colleen "knows" Chris Paul and that I "know" Michael Jordan--we just told him that Michael when to our college and the Chris Paul went to Colleen's highschool but he still thinks its fascinating. Maria is my favorite so far. She is so helpful and cute!! She told us how to get to the school supply store and constantly teaches us new words. We help her out some with her english too. Carmen is perhaps the most entertaining of them all. The other night for dinner we had hotdogs and she picks it up and waves it around and says its like a Luis' private parts. Then she hears some music coming from the family room, jumps up, pulls down her pants, and starts dancing while saying "Sori! Sori!". Needless to say this is sure to be an interesting place to live!

I'll post some pictures up soon!! Hasta luego! (or as the lazily say in Sevilla: 'sta luego!)

Cordoba and other adventures

Hello again! Yesterday we woke up very early (well very early here is anything before 9) to go with our entire group from UNC to Cordoba. The drive was about an hour and a half by bus and the historic part of the city was absolutely beautiful! We got a tour from two of our professors about the mosque and cathedral (picture with the orange trees in front of it).

Colleen and me outside what we called our new "sand castle"

After being shown around the city, we got to eat our bocadillos that our mom had packed us for lunch. It wasn't quite the same as my mom's PB&J nor did it have a handwritten note. She gave us two sandwiches (I think she thinks we eat a lot), apples, oranges, a bag of lays chips, a spanish version of twix bars and two juice boxes of chocolate milk (people were very jealous about the chocolate milk and candy bar...most spaniards aren't very big on their sweets it seems). After lunch we had 2 hours to walk around and see more of the city. We found a cute place and sat down for drinks with some other girls on the program. Everyone I've met seems really great so far! It's so easy to make friends that it feels like freshman year all over again. Afterwards we got back on the bus and headed back to Sevilla!


When we got back to the house, the kids had a babysitter there and their parents were at some bar watching the soccer game. The 17 year old babysitter was rather awkwardly put in charge of making dinner for us. She warmed up some left over chicken noddle soup for us that was pretty good. We then went to this sports bar Tex Mex that was playing the UNC game. Almost all 40 of us were there I think and we must have just been bad luck seeing as how poorly we played. We tried our best not to let it get us down though and spent the rest of the night celebrating my and 2 other students there acceptance into UNC's business school. We found our way to Calle Betis which was the most crowded late night street we've found so far. We met a good amount of people from all over (Some girls from South Carolina, some people from Ireland, and of course lots of Spaniards).
So far today we've eaten our lunch (paella...which apparently we'll be eating every Sunday!) and have been trying to figure out which University classes to sign up for. Below are some new pictures! Enjoy! Hasta luego :)

Colleen and me with Maria (Grey sweater) and Carmen (Red)

Me and Carmen! Her tights never stay up haha. She also insists on sitting "a lado de Maggie" (next to me) at meals and whenever I'm in the family room--She's adorable!)

La Paella

Luis (our homestay dad) cooking the Paella for lunch!

My friend Gabi and me outside of the cathedral in Sevilla at night. Beautiful right?

First impressions

Hello again! So I left off talking about my host family and now I have officially met them all! They are all adorable and definitely have their own personalities. Carmen, the 3 year old, is the drama queen of the group. She has thrown 2 tantrums so far and each has been quite entertaining. Hearing a 3 year old cry and yell in Spanish is unlike anything I've ever heard. One second she's perfectly happy and dancing around (which she does almost instinctively anytime she hears music) and the next second she's screaming and crying. Maria, the 9 year old, is definitely more composed. She's also been very helpful in answering the questions that Colleen and I don't want to ask Pilar, our host mom. She was so excited to show me everything she learned in school yesterday. She also gave me a huge tour of her room and all the toys los reyes brought her for christmas (Spanish people have the three kings instead of Santa Claus). Luis is the oldest (12) loves the NBA and is obsessed with Lebron James. He has already invited us to his basketball game next saturday. He plays point and his team is number one in his league. He is definitely the man of the house. Since his Dad, also named Luis (very confusing I know), works almost all the time, Luis is almost like the authority figure of the house. I'm discovering that family dynamics are very different in Spain than in America.

A picture Colleen took of Maria (she modeled for us too!). I'll try to take some of everyone else later!

Yesterday we ate lunch with our new siblings and then went to an orientation meeting that was essentially about drinking in Spain. We came back and had a delicious meal for dinner (chicken, home-made chips, and fried eggs from their dad's factory--the chicken had just hatched them 2 days before!). At night, a few girls met up with me and Colleen to go to this flamenco bar. It was very Spanish (I really think we were the only americans there) and quite fun! We each tried a chupita (shot), un cruzcampo (their favorite beer in Sevilla) and a tinto de verano (tasted just like my dad's grape lemonade). From their we went to a few different places and ended up getting home without getting lost or using a map! (Very impressive for us in a city with no street signs and many random side streets)

This morning we slept til 2 (still a little jetlagged) when Carmen came in to wake us up for lunch. We had potatoes with some sort of fish and bread (bread comes with every meal here). It was fantastic! After that Colleen and I went and explored for a while and then went to a meeting about classes at 6. We came back home for dinner at 8:30 and had tomatoes with meatballs and lays chips (slightly random combination but it was great!). Then our host parents went out to eat and to some bar. The kids still aren't in bed yet (it's just past 1 am) and Colleen and I are already almost asleep! (The timing of everything here is SO different) We have an excursion with the whole group tomorrow at 8:30 am to Cordoba so we need our rest! Will write more later!

Pictures so far...

My roomate and I at our hotel room!

Our homestay living room!

Kitchen!

Finally here!

Hello again! I’ve made it to Spain and am currently in my homestay! The trip over was exhausting to say the least. We flew to Philadelphia first and then waited for about an hour for our connecting flight to Madrid. Walking to the gate in Philly took a lot longer than it should have because the handle on my carry on suitcase broke. And of course that bag was way heavier than it should have been since I ended up stuffing all of my heaviest things into it to make the 50 pound checked bag limit. It wasn’t so bad though. Lauren (the girl I travelled over with who is also in my program) and I just stood on the moving sidewalks. Anyways the next flight to Madrid took about 7 hours and left about 45 minutes late. I tried my best to convince myself to finish the book I have to read for my first class, but I ended up just watching Australia (the longest movie they offered) and a couple episodes of Sex and the City. I ended up only sleeping for about 15 minutes on the whole flight. (Partly due to being excited/anxious and partly due to the toddler who would randomly scream out for his “mama”.) Lauren and I landed in Madrid at 8 am (just in time to see the sunrise from the plane), went through the easiest customs ever (we didn’t even have to fill out a form) and got our bags without any problems. I found an atm at the airport with the best exchange rate I’d seen and got out 200 euros. We took a taxi to the Atocha train station and then got on an 11:00 train to Sevilla. The train ride was my favorite part of travelling. It was pretty spacious and very nice! I guess I’m just used to riding Marta around, but this train was so quiet! I fell asleep for about an hour and a half. The train ride took 2.5 hours total and before we knew it we had arrived in Sevilla! When we first drove into the hotel we stayed at for the first night, I must admit I was a little disappointed. It didn’t look like any of the pictures of Sevilla that I had seen.  Lauren and I checked into the hotel and then went out to do some exploring and eat lunch. Most places were closed for Siesta so we just ate at a bar pretty close to our hotel. Not only was it hard to decide what to eat because the food was all in Spanish, but as our luck would have it the menus were handwritten rather sloppily. We both just pointed to what we wanted from the Menu del Dia and hoped it would be good. For my tapas I got albondigas (which I had heard of but couldn’t remember what they were—turns out they are meatballs :/) and then I had pollo del horno. Interestingly they both came with french fries on top (something that is apparently very common here). Lauren got asparagus with an egg (that to be blunt looked absolutely disgusting!) and pollo del horno too. Everything we ordered was for some reason swimming in oil and vinegar and I soon had a terrible stomach ache.

                When we got back to the hotel I found some wifi to let people know I got in safely and went to the room to shower and nap. My roommate’s name is Colleen and she seems awesome! She’s from Winston Salem and we each ended up bring our host family Moravian sugar cookies as our gift. I think we will get along great! Anyways at 8 we met up with all the people in our program (22 girls and 2 boys…haha) and went out to dinner. It was great to meet a lot more people and that made me start feeling better about the program. When we walked to the restaurant, I was SO much happier about Sevilla. Apparently where Lauren and I had been exploring earlier was the not so great side of the city. But the heart of Sevilla is absolutely GORGEOUS! I cannot wait to start exploring more later today (Pictures to come!). We got back to the hotel and tried to go to sleep. I ended up  being too excited to sleep very well though. We had just found out which families we were getting assigned for our homestay and I simply couldn’t wait! Turns out Colleen and I had both listed our preferences to live with a family with kids and we got it! The family were staying with has 3 kids (Luis,12; Maria, 9; Carmen, 3). We saw pictures of them and they are SO cute!!

                In the morning, we ate a quick breakfast and then were called to a taxi to take us to our homestay. It is in a very nice apartment complex and our senora, Pilar, seems so sweet! She even told us that we could consider her to be “vuestra madre espanola” (our Spanish mom). The apartment is beautiful. It was even featured in a magazine for being so well decorated. I think Colleen and I really lucked out here! We haven’t met the kids yet but they should be home for Siesta soon! And whatever she is cooking smells fantastic.

                Sorry for writing so much! Turns out I had a lot to update everyone on! Hasta luego!

Preparations...

Let me beginning my blogging career by giving credit to the wonderful Alex Dest whose blog on studying abroad in Ecuador has inspired me to try to annotate my time spent in Spain on this blog. Now try is the key word here. I realize what a time commitment this might be and am not sure how oftenI will be updating it. (Just trying to pick a background and a title took me the better part of an hour. Speaking of which I would love suggestions for better blog titles if anyone has them...I was trying to play off of Keeping Up With the Kardashians but I'm really not quite satisfied with it.) That all said I will make it my goal to try to write at least once a week.

Now on to talking about Spain! I finished packing earlier today and my checked bag weighed in at 70 pounds. So with convincing from both my parents, I repacked into two bags. As if it hadn't taken me long enough to pack the first time. Fast forward a half hour and packing is finally done. All that is left now is getting on the plane to Philadelphia tomorrow, transferring onto a flight to Madrid, and then taking the train to Sevilla! Estimated round-trip time: 16.5 hours

More to come from Spain!