So I may not be the greatest writer, or like to write for that matter, but I think in the end I will be really happy with the decision that I decided to blog during this adventure. I say it's an adventure because everything we've done thus far is.... an adventure. The plane ride(s)... adventure. The metro.... adventure. Pepi, our senora.... adventure. Communicating... BIG adventure. But, we are having the time of our lives. I'm starting this blog late so I'm just going to summarize as much as I can as quickly as I can. Here I go...
The plane ride here was long and exhausting. I learned that German is by far the most intimidating and confusing language I have ever heard. We were a little nervous about walking around the Germany airport, but it wasn't too bad at all. The exit signs in Europe are of a green running man. Who knows why. Figuring out if he was "exit" or "enter" was hard to figure out at first. Was he running away from security? Was he running to the bathroom? Was he sprinting to his flight? Interesting. Later on we would learn that green running man shows up on the streets in Sevilla for pedestrian crossing. He also makes a noise like a little birdie when we are allowed to cross. Week 1, it's not too annoying of a sound, but I can tell that at 8 AM for the next 5 months I definitely am going to want to give Mr. Green Running Man a run for his money.
Our plane in Barcelona was extremely delayed, but about 15 people on our program were with us so we started to make friends and mingle. Of course, Penn State was representing in our program. I'd say about 15 of us are from State College out of 60 which is pretty cool. The airline gave us a free meal so I headed over to some little shop and got my first Spanish bocadillo (sandwich.) It had Spanish ham and tomatoes. Yum, Yum, Yum. Finally we got on the plane and headed to Sevilla, finally.
Ah, Sevilla!!! The moment I have been waiting for has finally arrived!!!.... as did our luggage ;) What a miracle. So there we went, schlepping 2 huge bags, a small carry on and a backpack. It was rough, but we managed. We stepped outside for the first time in Spain and the air of Sevilla literally smelled sweet. It was glorious.
We all took a bus to the hotel where we had an orientation dinner, a 5 minute Spanish interview where I literally would have paid 100 Euros not to do, meetings, and some more meetings. I opted not to go out the first night. 20 hours of travel whooped my ass, and I was heading to bed. We spent 3 days at the hotel and then moved into our homestays.
Sunday came and Marissa and I were going to finally meet our Senora. Our names were called, we grabbed our bags, and we were greeted by Pepi. She is short, grey hair, cute as a button. We took a taxi to our apartment where we soon would have a work out of a lifetime getting our bags into our room. She opened the door and all that was there was a spiral staircase. All I kept thinking was, "You've got to be kidding me." So I grabbed one bag and dragged it up many stairs to reach the first apartment thinking I was done. Nope, of course not. I looked at Pepi and she pointed to the floor above us. We dragged our stuff up to the second apartment. Pepi had her hand on the bottom of the bag, helping me get it up the stairs. It was so precious. She speaks absolutely no English. We were really nervous, but felt at home immediately.
Marissa and I share a room which is fine with us being that we are roommates back at home. We have adorable beds with about 5 blankets each since there's no heat. We have our own bathroom (details to follow) which is nice because we were told we would most likely have to share with our family. We have a baby heater between our beds. We named it Snoop Dawg because we can literally roll him around on his leash from room to room. Some people actually bring their heater into their bathroom. We don't. We suffer. Every time he turns off for a little automatically, we both look up and give him a dirty look. You would think we're living in the Alps our house is that cold. But in the sun, oh is it beautiful. We have our own roof, by the way. WAHOO!!!! There's no heat here because most of the year is 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I love that I now have to specify C vs. F. The houses have no carpet. The floor is made out of.... in my mind I say marble. It's clrearly not marble, but has the texture of marble. This is where I would need my Mom to give me the word I'm looking for, but I don't want to spend 20 bucks on this text for a one word answer so I will have to find out at some other time. Hmm.... well, you're getting what I'm saying. It's hard, it's cold, and it requires us to wear slippers. Who would of thought that I would ever wear slippers. .
Our first lunch went well. Chicken with garlic and oil, homemade french fries, cut up tomatoes and croquettes, followed by sliced oranges with a caramel sauce. Two types of fried potatoes in one meal. I know, I know. You're all thinking, "Sara Mintzer is going to be a heffer when she gets back." Well we shall see! Pepi is an amazing cook, and we do a lot of walking. Hopefully the tapas won't get the best of me, AND there is a gym right down the street. Of course I accidentally left my sneakers at home, but there are sales everywhere here in January and February so I'll be buying some sneakers any day now. My internet is looking kind of shady right now so I'm going to pray that this saves and move on to the next...
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