First Impressions- for Joy

Dear Joy,

Estamos en España!

After many many hours in airports, train stations, and the air, I've made it safely to Sevilla!  We arrived at the train station in Sevilla yesterday (Tuesday) around 1:30, and my roommate whom I've dubbed "Mica" and I were put into a taxi and sent to our "piso!"  Her name is really Micayla but that is so long to pronounce in Spanish!  Our Señora is the sweetest little lady with a boyfriend in Granada (as long as he's working, she refuses to marry him) and she loves to cook which is wonderful.  She also has a chihuahua named "Paquito" who is hilarious and she describes as an "angry little man." Paquito and I are becoming friends (at least he let me hold him for a moment- my Señora was so surprised).  Mica and I share a room and bathroom, which is pretty fun.  However, there is no central air, so our room is freezing!  We have a little heater that we run at night as well as two down comforters for our beds, which needless to say it has made getting out of bed in the morning even more difficult! Yesterday was uncharacteristically cold and rainy, but today is much nicer!  Our Señora promises that in five days it will be warm and sunny.

This morning we joined all the school children in the neighborhood and walked the streets of Triana (my neighborhood) to a hotel where all the Acento students were meeting for orientation, meeting professors, taking a placement exam, and getting our Spanish phones.  We had cafe con leche and some delicious little pastries and made some plans for later today!  Mica and I returned to our piso on Calle Trabajo for a lunch of paella around 2:30 and now are taking a ciesta.  Later today we are doing a walking tour of Sevilla with our school and later tonight we're going to go to Calle Betis with some chicas from our program!  I suppose that that's all for now!

Hasta luego, and more to come!

Ellie