Mi casa nueva!

HOLA!

I’m sitting on my bed of my new home! I just moved in with mi señora (my host mom). She lives in the cutest little apartment in a great location! I am in “el centro” of Sevilla! But it’s the perfect spot for “living” she says. There’s the REAL center of the city where there are shops, and she’s right outside of it. She lives on the first floor which is nice, it made it easy to move my heavy suitcase in!

I don’t believe I have internet here, either. I think that’s what she said. She lives in a really tight, corner, almost “alley” that I couldn’t even find on a map (don’t worry, it’s not the kind of alley you are thinking of! Much safer). However, there are so many wi-fi spots close by so I will just walk there with my laptop when I need it. So here I am again typing this in a word document! Haha. I feel so disconnected from the world but I actually love it. I just bought a cell phone today, but I don’t really know how to use it so I won’t. It’s basically used to just to call/text my friends here because phone time is expensive in España!

So anyway, since I have a lot of time and I’m not doing anything until later, I’ll talk about my day today and yesterday! Yesterday we did a walking tour of the city – it POURED, of course! Very wet. But this place is seriously beautiful. I can’t even describe it, it’s nothing at all comparable to anything in the United States. We also ate “la comida” (lunch) before that tour. It’s very popular to “comer tapas” – which are like appetizers. We ordered a lot of little appetizers so we can try them all. So far my favorite is la tortilla de patata – it’s like a big omelet but not really haha. I took a picture. Hopefully I can upload them soon. Then, at night we went out to dinner with our groups (we’re divided into small groups so it’s easier to do things – this is also how we went to lunch). We did the tapas thing again. Then after, we went to see a Flamenco! It was interesting. I thought it was much more bright & vibrant and upbeat than it was, but it was actually calm – kind of like a yoga atmosphere. Maybe there are different types of Flamenco – I will find out! Because I found out today I am taking the Flamenco history class I wanted! Yay!

And this morning, we woke up, had breakfast, and had an orientation meeting. The CIEE people are great, this program is wonderful and I’d highly recommend it. Everyone is so passionate about their jobs & willing to help. We also have so many opportunities – trips, volunteering, sports, and we also get an “intercambio” student which is a Spanish student our age that wants to learn English. They’re basically automatic friends that you can practice Spanish with. Pretty cool!

After the orientation was over, two other girls and me ran to try to get cell phones really quickly. It wasn’t quick, but we got them! I’m still not sure how it works, but I wanted to make sure I had my friends’ numbers before we all split up to our homestays. Around 1-1:30, my señora picked me up from the hotel! I love her already. Her name is Gloría Roldan Martínez. She’s 45, and has two children that are grown up and moved out (boys, I believe). She did not mention her husband, but I didn’t expect her to. Many of the señoras are either widowed or divorced, so since those are both touchy subjects – I didn’t bother asking! Anyway, her apartment is perfect. Two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room. I have my own cute little room that I took pictures of. When I got here I moved things in while she prepared la comida (lunch). I gave her my little presents – which she loved! Salt water taffy, peanut chews, magnets, and a T-shirt that says “Philadelphia soft pretzel.” She liked the t-shirt the most for sure hahaha. Then we had lunch and talked. I understood a lot more than I would have thought! I told her about my family and my school and we also discussed a little Spanish politics (!?!?) not my field haha but she seemed very passionate about it! We ate this delicious gazpacho called sal ______ something, I can’t remember but she’s going to give me the recipe because it was SOOO GOOD. And then we had some sort of “hamburger” that she called it. It was like two things of meat and no bun). It kinda reminded me of a meatloaf but not really. It was good! Those of you who know me well know that I don’t like meat very much, especially red meat. But I’ve been good the past few days trying everything!!! Everything is so flavorful; as well as prepared & presented well, so it’s hard not to like it!

Now I’m just relaxing. Tonight we’re going out to dinner with students that are placed in the same areas as us. We meet at 8, and it’s only 3:45 now, so I have some time to relax for the first time in a while! I don’t know what to do with myself! I wish I had internet so I could talk to you all but I’ll post this as soon as I can!

Tomorrow we are going to Cadíz, as mentioned in the previous post. It’s going to be soooo beautiful and I absolutely cannot wait! Sunday we are hiking – dios mio…I don’t even know where but they said it’s 9 miles. Gotta stay in shape some how I guess!

That is all for now! Hasta luego amigos!

PS: update. picture of me and the coffee shop i'm posting this from with WiFi! in case you missed my face :) which is a sleepy face because i just woke up from mi siesta (nap) hehe