Hola´ from España

Well I just arrived in Spain yesterday. The trip started off interesting, as the lady next to me on the 8 hour flight from Atlanta to Madrid got food poisoning and started throwing up every 10 minutes. Felt pretty bad for her, but I sure hoped I didnt get sick either. Then I took a connecting flightto Sevilla, where I am now.

The city of Sevilla is absolutely beautiful! It is so rich in culture. All of classically designed buildings and small alleys, plazas, cathedrals, and riverside cafes just envelop you in this really cool cultural experience. Home to flamenco dancing, tapas, tapas crawls from pub to pub, life here is meant to be lived!

I took a taxi to my apartment, which is located in the most beautiful part of town and the best location, right in the middle of Sevilla, walking distance to everything including the school. Its next to the Teatro Sevilla and the Bullfighting ring, and near a huge cathedral. One of my roomates, Karen, greeted me at the door. Shes a super sweet girl, from England, and here with her boyfriend Duncan. Theyre both studying Spanish at a nearby school. They took me out to a bar to watch their favorite soccer (futbol) team, the Tottenham Spurs, and then around the city a little bit. Then I unpacked, and then we had dinner at a nice Spanish restuarant. Ensalada mixta, pollo con something, flan, pan fresca, y coca cola. Muy delicioso! Then to a cafe, which are very common. Great coffee, and not nearly as expensive as Starbucks! When we got home I met my other roomate, Benita, from Germany. She´s in my same class and also very nice. I probably hang out the most with her since we are roomates and in the same class.

The pace here is much slower, and takes some getting used to. People love to sit and eat and chill for hours. Sevillanos do a small breakfast if at all, and lunch is their big meal of the day. Drinks and tapas before lunch, then a 3 course meal, followed by more drinks. No wonder a siesta is needed after lunch, where most shops close and people take naps. Dinner here takes place later, always after 8pm and usually even around 10-midnight! Of course, being a student here, we dont get the time to do these huge lunches and late dinners, but we´ll still go for tapas and a drink at lunch!

The city of Sevilla has about 800,000 people. Its easy to get cities and towns of Spain via train, so we plan on visiting some of the coastal cities and maybe Barcelona or Madrid.

I have Nicole´s digital camera (thanks babe) so I´ll be sure to post pictures on here.

Hope everyone is doing well - write some comments to let me know what you want me to bring back home from Spain!

-Alan