¡Cuando en España!

¡Hola a todos!  Due to popular request and my own desire to have some record of my time in Europe, in particularly Spain, I have decided to start a travel blog. Wahoo! I simply request that you not judge me too harshly on my grammar and sometimes spelling skills as I will not always be writing on a full night’s sleep  Also not all my posts will be regular since I’m not positive about my wifi situation as of yet and am writing this now probably days before I will post it so please be patient!

So much has happened already and I feel like I’ve been here for weeks cause the days seem so long with everything I do.  I made it to Spain with only one casualty along the way, my airplane pillow was sadly left behind on the plane in Madrid.  It shall always be remembered as a good airplane pillow… Now on to the interesting stuff I guess. I spent about 8 hours in the Madrid airport and couldn’t even wait at my gate because they don’t post the gate numbers until an hour before departure.  It was kinda a scary experience trying to navigate my way around that airport alone since I had to take a shuttle to the area where new flights were.

Finally I was on the plane to Seville! I was exhausted because I couldn’t sleep in the airport for fear of having my belongings stolen. Luckily I had a window seat and was able to get a good view before I passed out. As the plane landed I woke up to discover the people beside me switched seats and it was a younger man next to me. He asked me if I was in the program with the Center in Seville, I was taken aback because I am and wondered how he knew. Turns out he is in the program too! We split a taxi to keep costs down for us instead of riding solo.

At this point I was regretting my inability to pack less belongings to bring to Spain because I know had two larger checked bags and one carry-on bag all on wheels but it was impossible to carry them all alone :/ somehow I managed though and when I got to the hotel we stayed in the first night I made it to my room with my other two roommates. Being the last to arrive I got the extra bed brought in the room but it was fine. The hotel had wifi so I was able to get som things done before 1) my computer crashed and 2) we had to go to orientation. They spoke in English to make sure we understood everything on the first day pero todo en Español ahora. (I should also mention this blog will be in Spainglish, so I hope you’re ready to learn a little!)

We had dinner afterwards, and my dad would be so proud, I tried tuna! They put it on the salad and I said ‘when in Spain!’ and tried it. The odd part is I liked it! The main course was a pasta type meal and was delicious as well. (I will probably talk about food a lot too…) After dinner a lot of the group went out into the city. I went with a small group to get some coffee and just sat in awe that I was in Spain. I’m in Spain guys! Wow! Haha, it’s still settling in my head that I’m here. We returned to the hotel and planned on going out again for drinks but I was already so tired and had to be up early so I just went to bed. When I awoke in the morning I had no idea where I was because the room was dark and freezing cold! But jumped in the shower to warm up and went down for breakfast.

We had a tour of the city and afterwards were placed in taxis and sent to our homestays for  lunch. My taxi driver was very helpful when I arrived and I buzzed my house number (everyone lives in apartments in the city) and my host mom met me when I got off the elevator. She is a tiny older woman who is widowed and has two grown children. I love how understanding she has been of my lack of Spanish speaking skills and has even started to try to help me when I ask how to say something. Basically a lot of smiling and nodding with me saying si a lot has occur, even though half the time I don’t know what she means. So of course I apologize a lot.

The first night at my house I went out with some people who live in the same area as me and we walked down to the river and checked out some different places. Spaniards stay up really late but we left at 3 AM and everyone else was still going, we had to get up early for our trip to the beach. In the morning I had cereal but instead of using cold milk they use room temp milk, I knew to expect this but I could not anticipate how much I would dislike it! We left early to find our bus stop and sadly I have made myself the person who can navigate a map and therefore am always directing the group.

First we visited the Monastery of La Rábida, this I were Chirstopher Columbus set sail for the Americas! It was very interesting, they even had replicas of the Nina, Santa Maria, and the Pinta that were life size and we were able to go on them. Afterwards we traveled to the beach and ate our packed lunches and stayed for three hours. Sadly I missed some spots when I was applying sunscreen cause I didn’t asked for help and got burnt badly in some places. But the beach was beautiful and I enjoyed laying out despite the later consequences. The Atlantic Ocean water was más fria! Though this was enjoyable given the weather. I forgot to bring my flippy floppies so that was an experience with my Sperry’s.

We got back to the house in time for me to get showered and ready before dinner/supper. They eat a lot later here then we do in the states. After I finished mi amiga, Samantha aka Sam, and I went to get tapas y vino and walk around the area to get an idea what was there. Tapas are literally a snack and there are several different things you can have. We decided to be adventurous and just ordered random things and they turned out to be really good! Oh and I had had fish again for dinner, and liked! This trying new things while abroad is great! We went home early, around one, because we were both going on the Gilbraltar trip the next day.

I will have to write about that trip later, even though it was this past Sunday. I don't have anymore time write now. Keep reading!