Hello Spain, my name is Samantha...wait...what was that? I didn´t quite catch that...what?

Hello computer, is that a tilde on your keyboard, or are you just happy to see me? Oh, just a tilde. Ok. ÑÑÑÑ

So, despite what my body is telling me, it is 8:15 (20:15 if you´re a local) in Seville. Also, despite what my body is telling me, I am in one piece.

I have some pictures from the plane, but they will have to wait until I can bring my laptop to school. Coming into Madrid was amazing. There´s nothing like the sunrise with the moon over the Pyrenees to make all that sleep deprivation seem worthwhile. I am amazed at the perfection of God´s unspoiled creation.

I did, however, manage to lose my boarding pass somewhere between the plane and the Madrid airport, which is a bohemoth of yellow pillars. It´s actually very architecturally interesting. I was going through security when I found I had no boarding pass and was unceremoniously thrown out of line with no explanation of what I was to do. I was very near crying when one of the more experienced faculty helped me obtain a new ticket (tarjeta de embarque).

Now that I am in Seville, its hard to believe anything about my stay is really permanent. My señora, Gracia (Gra-thee-a with the traditional Spanish lisp), is incredible. She´s hosted many students before and thankfully understands that when she talks, she might only receive a hopelessly lost stare as a reply as I try to process what she´s said. Apparently, she likes to feed her students a great deal and today I had a type of melon I had never had before which was delicious and forced myself to eat a salad with tomatoes, blocks of cheese, and corn (three things I do not like) and it was just fine. Ellen and I have a little room in her lovely apartment where she kind of forced us to take a nap in place of unpacking...and by forced, I mean she came in, said it was too hot, shut the window, put on a fan, told us to take our luggage off the bed, and pulled down the covers for us and gave us an estimate of how long we should sleep. Far be it from me to deny any command to nap, especially since I didn´t sleep a wink on the plane. She´s really spunky and wonderful and does everything she can to be entirely accomodating.

I also had a horrible time explaining syrup (jarabe? jarape?) to her, and have a feeling she might be serving it in glasses for breakfast tomorrow. If nothing, she really liked how it smelled.

The previous occupants left behind quite a bit of toiletry items, which I hadn´t anticipated...shampoo, conditioner, a hair straightener, etc...were all waiting for us in our room along with Spanish English dictionaries and verb books.

It´s pretty much amazing here, and the people I´ve met so far are pretty much amazing, and it seems like it could be amazingly hot, but that´s fine, because I´m in Spain and my señora actually commanded me to nap and liked the cow figurine I gave her.

Señora would like to go now, so I am going to go now. I will talk to you later computer. And I will talk to you later Tyler and Mom and Dad. I just have some figuring out to do.

But I suppose that´s the point of an adventure.