February 5th, 5:25pm (Spain), CC-CS, Seville, Spain

So for some reason, this website won't let me copy and paste things to post, so I've gotta type it all. I have about 4 pages of bloggerific material typed up in word, but I can't copy and paste it, so I'm just gonna type some fresh material for you. The last post was the first excerpt from my journal, which I wrote while sitting in Logan about to leave. Oh my, how things have changed. So, I'm gonna take you back in time and bring y'all up to speed on what is happening here in Seville.
Back to the first flight. It really wasn't bad... I was the only person in my little three-seat row, and I was stoked about that. However the woman behind me was crammed in with two others, so she stole the far seat to get herself a little more space. I wouldn't have minded if she hadn't sprawled across the middle seat too, with her legs actually touching mine. Its a plane, woman, not a queen sized bed. With mistress nightcap on my right, boy wonder on my left felt like he had to compete for my attention. He was probably 3 years old, and he was awful. He kept throwing stuff into the aisle, which would land at my feat, leaving me responsible for its return. Once that became boring for him, he moved onto his bread and butter; crying. That kid would not shut up. He didn't speak english, so I couldn't tell what he was saying, but I most likely wouldn't have been able to even if he did, through the blubbering and tear-squeezing that he was doing. Eventually he calmed down, only after about 30 minutes of torture. Sean Penn's silver screen adaptation of the book "Into the Wild" was being shown, so I settled down into my seat (as best as I could) and enjoyed that over my dinner. We were served chicken and rice, with salad, bread, some chocolate, and a dessert brownie. We also got a little mini-bottle of wine, so I enjoyed that as well. After the movie was over, I fell asleep for about an hour, and read for the rest of the flight. We got to London so early we had to wait in the lounge for 2 hours before our flight was even assigned a gate. Everything was displayed on these two T.V. screens, and we all placed bets on which gate we'd get. Rosie won with the correct guess of gate three, and we dashed off to catch our flight into Barcelona.
I slept pretty much all of that flight, and we headed into the airport in Barcelona to re-check our baggage like they told us several times that we needed to do. Customs was incredibly underwhelming, we didn't even need to present any declarations, the line was non-existent, and we just got our stamps and kept moving. We headed to the baggage claim and waited until the belt quit moving, but our stuff never showed up. When we went to the Iberia desk to file for our lost stuff, the clerk told me that our bags were checked straight through till Seville. Very grateful, we took off to get boarding passes and find our gate. Again, I slept through that whole flight, and at last we were in Seville. We headed to the baggage claim to snag our bags, but again the belt stopped without bearing our fruits. In disbelief we started to head over to the SpanAir counter when a clerk grabbed us and told us international stuff was on a different belt. WHEW.
I caught a taxi to the hostel we planned to stay at for the night, and struck up a conversation with the driver. He was a nice guy, and told me not to worry about my stay in Spain, that I'd have a great time. I got to the hostel and was blown away. It was so cool. Martina was our hostess, and she showed us around. Our room was tiny, six beds crammed together with all our luggage, but the rest of the hostel was so sweet. There was a kitchen with a free pantry, which we used to cook pasta for dinner. There were computers with internet, and there was a open roof hangout with couches and hammocks and stuff. Way Cool. We woke up around 10am, had some breakfast, and packed our stuff up. We decided to walk to the hotel for orientation instead of taking a cab so that we could save ourselves some money, so we set out across Seville. It was quite a site to see, a line of us dragging our luggage through the tiny cobblestone streets of Seville, dodging cars and old people. We arrived at the hotel right around noon, covered in sweat with luggage in hand, and received our acceptance packages. I headed up to my room and met Roderick, my "companero" (roommate) for orientation. We got some lunch, and decided to go out for a walk, to try and find the apartments where we'd be staying. We found them, both, and discovered that we live pretty close to one another. We got back just in time for our first orientation session, where went over some basics on how the program worked, an introduction to the center, and a few other odds and ends. I was able to pick up a cell phone through the school, because my T-Mobil phone refused to work. My sweet phone is a Nokia, and its number is 034-615-712-267. After that, we decided to head out for a beer. There are signs about every 50 feet that say "Cruzcampo", which is the most popular type of beer around here. Its very similar to Bud Lite or Miller Lite; a cheap light beer, but it's good because its Sevillano. After two beers I headed back to the hotel and tried to sleep, but I couldn't. I tossed, and turned, but didn't get much sleep.
"Dude, it's like 10" were the first words I heard when I woke up. This was Roderick telling me that we were basically screwed because we'd slept through breakfast and the walk to the center. I got dressed as quickly as I could, and ran out into the hallway, only to see students keying into their rooms. I checked my watch, and it was only about 8:45... we had missed breakfast but still had time until we had to leave for the center at 9:10. Relieved, I brushed my teeth and freshened up, re-packed my bags, and headed to the lobby. I was in group 5, and Sara was our leader. She walked us around town a little and we eventually got to the center, where we had to take a test to see where we would place for our classes.
The test did not start well. My vocabulary is a little rusty even when I'm speaking my best Spanish, but put me on a 5-and-a-half-week vacation and my brain is worth nothing. I muscled through the first part, and the second part was a little easier, and the third was even easier, and so on... until the oral comprehension part, where I was on fire. I finished the test feeling pretty decent, and headed back to the hotel to grab my bags. Now it was time to meet my Senora, the house I'd be staying at for the next four months.
I caught a taxi and he took my right to the apartment building... Calle Lopez de Gomara 41, 2( 3 (Lopez de Gomara Street, Apartment 41, Third floor, number 3). In the information I had received, it said that her name was: Ma. Dolores Nuchea Garrucheno. I assumed this meant her name was Dolores, however in Spain there are many women named Maria, so they abbreviate it at the beginning with Ma. So, she introduced herself as Maria, and I wasn't quite sure if I was in the right place. But, she knew my name, so I figured it was safe. She gave me a quick tour of our small apartment, and showed me my room. My roommate, Steve, was sleeping. He's been here for a month already doing the Union College Winter Program, so he'll leave in Mid March. I woke him up while moving my things in around noon, and he was excited to meet me. He's a really cool guy... he plays the guitar, he had bought a flamenco guitar, and had an internship at a music store. We chatted about Seville and the nightlife and things for me to expect, and he made me feel pretty comfortable about being there. We talked for a bit, and then it was time to eat lunch.
Maria left to get her grand daughters, Monica and Luisa, so they could eat with us. Monica is about 7, and Luisa is around 4 or 5. Maria's sister, Conchita, also stopped by to say hello. OH! And Maria has a dog... a little white terrier named Lucas. They drop the "s" off the end of words here, so he's known as "Luca". Lunch was pasta with hotdogs, some beef, and fruit. She cooked stuffed muscles for everyone else, but she was very conscious to account for my seafood allergy. After lunch, Steven and I headed to the center to get on the internet and hang out for a bit, and I had a computers orientation followed by a meet-and-greet with a couple of the teachers. It was bizarre, because they served beer at the meet-and-greet. You don't see that in the US. Things are a lot different here.
We followed the meet-and-greet with a bus tour around the city, but I was so beat I ended up dozing off. We finished the tour and I walked back to my house for dinner. Maria cooked up some awesome soup- noodles and beans, and then we had Tortillas Espanolas (giant omelet type things with potatoes and cheese in them), then some bread and cheese before we finished with fruit. We always finish every meal with fruit, which is nice because its an easy way to tell when the meal is over.
Today was our first day of classes, which was a nice distraction for the hollowness inside caused by a Patriot's SuperBowl loss. My class is awesome... Nuria is my teacher, and we played a game today... of course, my team (Los Tigres) won. Things are starting to settle down a lot... I don't feel pressured to always go out and do something, I know I can just chill out. Right now I'm at the center, taking advantage of the free internet. I gotta say I miss everyone at home a lot, but things here are awesome. I'm gonna take some pictures of Seville on my walk back home, and I'll try to post them tomorrow. Hasta Luego, mundo!