Hello, world!

Ok so I have been in Sevilla for 16 days now. I wanted to start a blog well, just about 16 days ago, but everything has been so crazy and hectic so I'm doing it now. I'll try my best to recap the past few weeks without boring you.

Courtney and I flew out of Boston to London on January 17. The flight was long, but the food was yummy and I slept for most of it. I woke up 45 minutes before we landed. As we got closer to London, it was about 5am there, the entire city looked like orange connect-the-dots. Strange, I know, but you had to see it. We had a bit of a layover at Heathrow but we were off to Madrid only a couple hours later. I was warned that the London airport was big and confusing, but no one told me how bad Madrid would be. Courtney and I got lost for about an hour and a half but we eventually found where we were supposed to be. There was a McDonald's in the airport and Courtney got a McPollo (yes, a McChicken is really called a McPollo in Spain). We boarded the plane and were ready to get to Sevilla but there was a weather delay. So we sat there for two hours before the plane took off. It was brutal. There were mostly young people and business travellers on our flights to Madrid and Sevilla and I wondered if any of them were in our program. Turns out almost all of them were. We landed in Sevilla and no one really knew where to go to meet the CIEE staff but they were there waiting for us with big signs. The airline lost a lost of luggage so we sat in the airport for over an hour and waited for students to get their situation figured out. Stepping outside for the first time was heaven. Granted it was just to get on a bus but the air was so warm and there were palm trees everywhere! Sevilla is basically the Florida of Spain and there's enough old people here to prove it.

We had about a 20 minute bus ride from the airport to the hotel. We stayed at Hotel Becquer on Reyes Catolicos for the next two days. It was a nice hotel; I shared my room with two other girls, Veronica and Abbey. It turns out Veronica's boyfriend who is here with another program lives with our friend Kurt from Bryant! Small world. But orientation at the hotel was hectic. There were more than 200 of us and we were tired and hungry. The first night at dinner was interesting. We had cold tomato soup with eggs in it. Cold soup is normal here and I still haven't gotten used to it. There was also a rice dish with a lot of mushrooms. Yuck. I was praying the food got better. I ended up being very sick the next day, and could not eat much for the next couple of days, not even bread.

We had SO many orientation sessions to go to. Some for classes, others for Spanish etiquette, others for homestays. It was crazy! We were split up into little groups by last names so Courtney and I weren't together for orientation but I got to see her during meals. We got to do a scavenger hunt around the city which was very fun and we got to see a lot of things. There were no rules about going into the tourism office on Avenida de la Constitucion so we did just that and a nice man told us where everything was...but we still didn't win.

Throughout orientation each group had a "guiya," or a guide. Grupo 2, my group, had Maria. She was WONDERFUL! I still see her all the time and she is so nice and always helpful.

On Wednesday we finally got to move into our homestays. Courtney and I are living in Triana, a barrio on the other ride of the river. It has a lot of history, cheap shopping, and cafes so we couldn't have been happier...with the exception that it was a 40 minute walk to the Palacio, the CIEE building. Our host mom's name is Inmaculada, or Inma for short. Inma speaks no English so we always speak Spanish in the house. She used to teach cooking classes so she loves to feed us and we love to eat. Every meal she tries to make us something different and there hasn't been one dish we haven't loved. So far we've had paella (a rice dish with vegetables and chicken), tortilla de patatas (basically a potato omlet only way better), even papas fritas con ajo (french fries with garlic). There is bread and fruit with every meal. It is guaranteed that the words "Quiere un poquito mas?" are said at least twice every time we eat. Even though Courtney and I say that we're full (estamos llenas), she still piles our plates with food.

The apartment we live in is very cozy. There is no dining room, we just eat on the couches and chairs in the living room. The best part? There's a heater underneath the table so when we eat we lift up the table cloth like a blanket so we're always warm and well-fed. This style of eating is very common in Andalucia. I am definitely going to miss it when I go home. The TV is usually on during meals, too. The gameshows here are addicting. There's the Spanish version of Wheel of Fortune (La Ruelta de la Fortuna), Cash Cab (simply called Taxi here), Pasapalabra, and apparently the Simpsons are huge here. They come on after La Ruelta but Inma doesn't like the show and neither does Courtney so I never get to watch it.

The buildings are a good 10 degrees colder than the outside weather all the time. We bought slippers and I don't know how I've ever lived without them. The showers here are tiny and you have to hold the shower head. You can't be in the shower for more than 10 minutes and you have to turn the water off when you shampoo, etc. It gets very, very cold!

Even though we moved into our homestays, we still had a few days of orientation left. It was exhausting, but the nights were fun. Our guiyas took us out for tapas and sangria a few nights, and we went to a bar another night. There are a lot of Americans here, too. Courtney and I want to make friends with Spaniards to practice our Spanish, but we haven't met anyone yet. Hopefully that changes soon though. There are 3 American girls that live 2 floors down from us; one of them, Nicole, is from NH and graduated from Providence College. What are the chances? She studied here and came back to teach English. Nicole knows a lot of Spaniards so we hope that she introduces us so we can practice, practice, practice.

All of last week and the rest of this week we have been taking an intensive Spanish course. Our first test was on Friday and our final is this Saturday. It's a lot of work and we have to sit in a classroom 3 hours a day but it's worth it...even though we miss siesta time. The class is a great review AND we get 3 credits for it.

We've met a few girls in our program that we go out with on the weekends. We all live very close to each other, 2 girls even live on the same street as us. Pretty much everyone here is from the midwest, including all of the girls we hang out with. Annie is from Minnesota and she says "roof" but pronounces it "rough." I laughed for a long time the first time she said it. I can't even imagine how I must sound to them though.

The nightlife here is ok. Everyone goes out so late and stays out even later. In order to get home, we have to go over a bridge called La Puente de Isabel II and there just happens to be a Churreria right before you cross the bridge. For 4 Euros you can get churros con chocolate, and they give you enough churros for 3 people and a giant cup of hot chocolate syrup for dipping. They are HEAVENLY. The stand is also open at 4:30 in the morning when most people go home. Possibly the best late night snack ever. We still have about 20 minutes of walking from the Churreria so I don't feel too guilty :)

Did I mention we walk by the Churreria, a Domino's, Buger King, and a KFC on the way to school? I'm trying my best to stay away from American food until I come home. I have had pizza a couple times though (not from Domino's) but technically pizza is Italian so I'm ok.

That pretty much sums up my time here so far. I'll write about today in a different entry. The girls downstairs were nice enough to give us their wireless password so we have internet in the apartment, but it can be very spotty at times. For some reason it doesn't let me upload pictures but I can add them later if I bring my computer elsewhere.