Hola de Espana!

Bienvenidos!, (Welcome!)

To begin, I do apologize for have such a belated start concerning the documentation of this trip. It has been quite a hectic past week and even now I would hardly consider myself to be adjusted.

So far, all is well in Spain. I am enjoying the time spent with my host family: my "host mother", Purificaion and my "host sister" Elena. They have been very supportive of my language disability and are extremely hospitable, amiable people. I think that their attitudes reflect appropriately on what I have seen to be the personality of the Spanish people: blunt, honest, kind, helpful, and hilarious. This past weekend I went to a pub with Elena and a large group of her friends, rarely have I seen a group of people so fun loving and gregarious.

The university I go to is called the University Rey Juan Carlos (King Juan Carlos, the current monarch of Spain). It is a relatively small university; four buildings (one a library), two cafeterias, no dormitories, one basketball hoop. In the future I will put up some pictures of the campus, as it is actually very nice and has a warm, modernesque atmosphere. This semester I am taking a Spanish composition class, a European political institutions class, and a dance class (the last one is a long story. It wasn't my initial choice but I don't have to defend myself this is my blog!) which are all actually pretty fun. I have plans to sign up for an intercambio (speaking partner) and, possibly, to teach English to Spanish children. Other than that, though, my time has been filled with homework, pub crawling, exploring the city, meeting people, and practicing my language.

I will attempt to keep this updated weekly, posting pictures and stories. My aim is not to create an online journal but to instead illustrate my (mis)adventures and to share the cultural experience. So, if you made it this far, thank you for reading and stay tuned!