El que algo quiere, algo le cuesta.

The year-long preparation for studying abroad in España finally manifested itself when I boarded the plane in Calgary, then traveled through Montreal, New Jersey, Lisbon and landed in Sevilla. Twenty hours of travel completely threw my body out of whack, and when I arrived at my new house, it felt like I was moving in slow motion, slooowly taking things in.


FIRST LESSON: you don't tip in Spain. This is why the cab driver was so nice to me after I paid.


SECOND LESSON: It's 17°C outside, but these houses are designed to be cool... quite cool. Cool to the point where I have to dress in layers, and my next shopping trip will be for sweaters, long-sleeved shirts, jeans, and a jacket; all the things I purposely didn't pack.


THIRD LESSON: Lunch here (la comida) occurs at around 230, dinner (la cena) is at 9 or 930, and breakfast is basically a mini-muffin. This is will take some serious adjustment.
Basically (after sleeping for 14 hours), I came to the realization that at least Montequinto (the town in which I live) is pretty similar to Bogotá, Colombia. This house, reminds me of my grandmother's old house, and I keep expecting her to be there. I don't really feel like I'm a stranger in a new country, just like I'm back in Bogotá. Granted, I have to get used to these new eating habits. I know myself pretty well though, so for the breakfast situation... I bought cheerios!


Not my finest moment when: I didn't unlock the bathroom door all the way, so when I closed it on my way out, it locked itself. Thankfully, my host "mom" Lola had a key.

I'm living with a host family in the town of Montequinto. The owner's name is Lola and her son lives in a mysterious loft on the third floor. There is another student living here, and her name is Ally. She's from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Ally is GREAT, she fills me in on everything, and she always has something to say. I can tell we're going to have a lot of fun together. I have also met her friend Jodi (from good old Calgary!) and Jodi's roommate Gabriela (from Perú). Today the four of us in search of a Catholic church, then they showed me the way to get to the University (Universidad Pablo de Olavide). Then we had a nice little adventure trying to find the Carrefour (think Superstore... or even Costco). In short, after getting lost, we found out it was closed on Sundays, and you definitely can't get there by foot. So we just meandered our way back into town, through an area where the prostitutes hang out apparently, and went for coffee to what I think will be our usual "spot"; a place called For Sale.


To do this week:

• Spanish placement exam
• tour of campus
• figure out my class schedule, get textbooks
• get my metro (c-train) card and load it with money
• get a cheap movil (cellphone)
• buy WARM CLOTHES