Finalmente!

"Finally!"

I have made it to Sevilla! minus luggage :(
Today has been a much better day! We made it to Sevilla around 1:30 this afternoon. (that would be 12:30pm NC time) I took a cab directly to the apartment of my Senora.

My "Senora", is the woman and her family that I will be staying with for the next few months.

When i arrived to this 10ish story white stucco building I had NO CLUE how to get in or which unit was the correct one! There happened to be someone walking in at the same time and they kindly held the door for me. Once inside, i made a few guesses from the address that i had and headed up 8 flights of stairs. By the 8th flight there was a woman standing outside her door. (this was due to me pressing the buttons at the entry to the building and waiting for someone to answer or something to magically happen, actually it was pretty much a doorbell!) This was my Senora, Paqui! I was so excited to meet her as i had heard wonderful things about her from one of my best friends, Emilee Bunker. Emilee had Paqui as her Senora when she was studying in Spain last semester. She is wonderful. She showed me inside and around the small 3 bedroom 1 bath unit. My roommate and I share a quaint room with two twin beds and bright pink walls! Unfortunately there is no heat but we do have a little space heater! Hopefully this will help a little tonight because i do not have warm clothes to sleep in! Luckily, my roommate had arrived previously and things were not too intimidating talking with Paqui. We talked briefly and i was so excited to tell her that Emilee was one of my close friends. When i told her about this she basically said that Emilee was her favorite past student and she held a special place in her heart. She even showed me the photo album that Emilee had left with her. Sounds like I have alot to live up too!

Around 3:30 Paqui's two daughters arrived home from school. She has a 12 year old daughter Julia that she described to me as "different", she is going though a punk sort of stage but very sweet. The younger daughter is Blanca, who is 10. Blanca is a beautiful little spanish girl that loves to play soccer. The three of them together crack me up, they bicker/joke just as I do with my family.

Soon we sat down for lunch, we had a GREAT first meal and delicious chocolate cake. This could be dangerous! We actually ate lunch in the family room and watched TV at the same time. It is quite chilly here now and they do not have heat in the house. Underneath the table is a space heater and the table is covered with a thick table cloth, we draped the table cloth over our legs like a blanket to keep our feet and legs warm.

This evening, we headed to the University (a 15 minute walk from the apartment) for an orientation session. It was a Quick trip through my neighborhood. I am hoping to have more of an opportunity to explore tomorrow. I have plenty of time because we have nothing planned for tomorrow. My mission is to get a cell phone (wohoo can't wait to be connected again!) as well as some clothes (unless my luggage comes tonight! but probably even if it does come tonight!).

I can't wait to get to know this city more!