First day continued

  So, once we (Megan and I) were picked up (around 12), Maria Carmen and her neice helped us ride the bus into town. As you hopefully could see from the pictures in the last post the bus ride provided a tantalizing glimpse of the city. There was so much to see the closer we got to the city center.  We departed the bus at a station very near to both Maria Carmen's home and Megan's host family's house.  From here Maria Carmen continued on with me by taxi to my neighborhood right in the heart of the city on the Calle de la Villa. This taxi ride was a lot of fun because the driver, who was from Peru, and Maria Carmen talked the whole way there and I found that I understood a lot of what was being said.  They spoke about Peru and immigration, American politics, etc. 

  It was just about 1:00 when we made it to my neighborhood.  I was dragging by that point so it was really nice to have taken the taxi instead of the metro (more on the metro experience later) especially as I had to lug my suitcase and bag pack. (Compared to the other students in the program my one suitcase was much lighter than their multiple suitcases...I packed lightly.) 

  My host mom met us at the intersection of Calle de la Villa (her street) and Calle Mayor, which is the main street that runs through the city center all the way to the main plaza (Plaza Mayor).  I am running a little behind on these posts as it is now my third day here, but from the start I could tell that my host mom Patricia was a great fit; the first thing she said to me after the introduction was that we would go home to eat and then I could shower and sleep.  Her apartment is in the basement of Calle de la Villa 3.  It has three bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen, and a beautiful living/dining room with shelves lining an entire wall.  It is very neat, clean, and comfortable.  Patricia is an artist and so the house is filled with fantastic painting and photos.  Another Marshall student Amanda and I share a very spacious bedroom (I will post pictures of this soon). There is also an exchange student from New York who is much more fluent than Amanda and I, her name is Alice...she is extremely nice and helpful in translating confusing words or ideas.  Patricia does speak a little English but for our benefit she is speaking mainly in Spanish.

   Amanda was out and about when I arrived, but Patricia, Alice, and I ate a really yummy lunch.  Lunch is the biggest meal of the day in Spain is typically eaten between 2-4.  We had a light soup of some kind of squash, a salad, and a potato quiche.  I then showered, changed and napped...it was wonderful!  At about 5:00 I got up and then went with Patricia and Amanda, who had returned in the meantime, to see the route to the metro we would be using to get to school.  The nearest station is "Opera," which is just about a ten minute walk from our house in La Plaza de Isabella II.  This first day was surreal partly because I was very tired and partly because it is an entirely different world.  Patricia walked us around for a while before sending us on our way home and continuing on to a reunion.  We relaxed the rest of the afternoon.

  Around 5:30 we two left again to meet Maria Carmen and the group near Nebrija. There are eight of us enrolled in the program between June and July.  Megan, Amanda, and I are staying for both months; Tanner, Kyle, and Sierra are here just for June, and two more who I have not met are coming in July.  So we met up with the other three and Maria Carmen, her sister and her niece to find the school from the metro stop Francos Rodrigues.  It was actually kind of fun to figure out the Metro. It can be very crowded and apparently it is a cultural norm for Spaniards to stare at other people while they ride, but we made it.  Nebrija is very pretty! It is a trek to get there, roughly 40 minutes on the metro and then about a 15 walk from the Metro. It is right near a spacious park filled with these jungle like trees. 

  After we had a small "orientation" with Maria all six of us took off to find something to eat.  We meandered through many small streets in search of food without success. 

 

 

(On our trek to find food)

 (Almost there)

Finally we asked for directions and at last found ourselves at El Rompido.  We were quite hungry by that time but the meals in Spain are meant to take time.  So although the wait was long our time together was well spent.  Our small group gets along very well.

 

(Amanda is in the forefront of this picture holding one of our tapas dishes that came with our drinks.  Megan is in the back.  Unfortunantely, as we learned you have to pay for water unlike in the US)

 

(These are our tapas. Our host mother explained that tapas originated many, many years ago.  People found that they could protect their drinks by placing a small piece of bread over their glass that they could eat while they drink.  Over time this evolved into a small snack or appetizer that accompanies their meals.)

(Tapas will continue to come as you continue to order drinks)

 

(Kyle is the one posing, Sierra is next, and that is the back of Tanner's head)

 

(As you can see you can access wifi at most restaurants...only it is pronounced "weefee")

 

(the restaurant and yummy food)

By the time we got home it was 11:30... We (Amanda and I using the buddy system) had trouble staying awake on the ride home, so it was off to bed as soon as possible.

Adios!