Estoy en Sevilla!!!

Well, I made it! :)  The flights went well - we didn´t miss any and none were delayed (except for the first one, but only for 20 minutes or so).  I was ready to get here by the last flight, but overall it wasn´t too long.  I tried my best to sleep on the long flight from Chicago to Madrid (8 hours), but I think I only accomplished 3 hours of good sleep.  I arrived in Sevilla at about 9:30 and then exchanged some money, got my bags, and Lindsey (my friend from St. Kate´s) and I got a taxi and communicated well enough to get to our homestays.

My host mother is absolutely amazing!! Her name is Rosario and she is an older widow.  She has a daughter and three grandchildren who live nearby.  She is so kind and patient!  It has been Spanish and talking ever since I arrived and I´m amazed even in one day how much easier it is.  My roommate is also fabulous!  Her name is Grace and we are very similar which is a lot of fun!

I live in a section of Sevilla called Nervión.  It is a very nice neighborhood, but it is the homestay farthest from the school.  It´s about a 45 minute walk or we can use the metro, but that still takes about 30 minutes because you have to walk to the metro stations.  It´s not that bad though -- the walk is beautiful and it´s fun when you are walking with other people.

Lindsey and I explored Sevilla a little bit yesterday (Sunday).  We actually probably walked constantly for 5 hours!!  We saw the cathedral and some BEAUTIFUL parks.  I will get up a picture or two later.  We did get a little lost at the end.  :)  We had a map, but we didn´t know where we were on the map!  There are MANY little streets and their names change often.  We were able to ask a couple people a couple times where we were and then navigate back.  It was fun :)

Today is my first day of  classes, but I found out that my classes are in the afternoon instead of the morning.  I would rather have them in the morning, but that´s not my choice.  I only have two classes right now -- this is the intensive period where I have two classes for three weeks.  One class is only once a week but the other is M-F.  Today I have my make-up orientation and my Spanish placement exam.  Sadly they are during my classes for today, so I´ll have to miss both of them.  This isn´t usually the way I like to start the semester, but it will be fine. :)

I can´t explain how beautiful it is here!! There is so much history and so much detail and beauty.  I´m really excited to continue to explore :)

Well, that´s all for now!