Bienvenidos!

Just arrived in Seville and cannot believe how tired I am. I left New York at 6:00 PM and arrived in Madrid at around 6:30 AM. That has got to be THE most confusing airport I have ever been to. From the tram to going through security a second time... I had quite the layover. I was scheduled to leave for Seville at 11:50 AM so I had some time to kill. Found some other confused looking American students and turns out that we were in the same program. We grabbed some breakfast in the airport, greek yogurt and some fruit, and were able to watch the sunrise outside the window over the mountains (hills...) of Madrid.

On the one hour flight to Seville I sat next to an 18 yr old girl who, after my staring at her magazine trying to read it offered it to me. Turns out the magazine was in French so I was at a loss of whether to speak to her in English or Spanish, as clearly I don't speak French. I asked her in Spanish where she was from and we got to talking in Spanish. She was about to start Univeristy in France and was on vacation traveling to Seville. It was cool though using Spanish as a median form of communication, both not speaking our native language. Our flight to Seville was about 1/2 CIEE students and so everyone began introductions and CIEE was waiting to pick us up when we landed in Seville.

We arrived at the Hotel Bécquer and checked into our rooms for orientation as well as grabbed lunch at the hotel. The CIEE orientation staff was there and immediately started speaking spanish to us muy rapidamente... A bit overwhelming. I'm able to understand for the most part what they are saying, yet when I try to articulate myself I feel like a third grader with elementary basic responses. My spanish just needs some brushing up and everyone says that I'll pick it up really quickly!

Some kids I met from the layover from Madrid and I went walking through the streets around the hotel. Its really cool to see such a mixture of architecture and colors throughout the streets. Its almost like a maze with all these little alleyways and side streets. We went around 3:30PM and soon realized that all the stores were closed because it was around Siesta time...a custom which I'll soon grow accustomed to :) and walked a little bit by the river. All in all it seems like a beautiful city and a cool place to explore on a bike (they have a cool rental service.)

I'm off to our evening orientation (all in Spanish) and then most likely an ETB for me. Feelin' jet-lagged right now though and I'm missing my bed A LOT.  But, I can't wait to explore the city and get started.

Hasta que volvamos a ver!