I'm in Spain!

Actually, I've been in Spain for 3 weeks. I'll try to update this more often in the future.

I absolutely love it here. All the other exchange students in my program are super fun, and we have a really great group of friends. My roommates are the best. Their names are Noora and Laura and they are both from Turku, Finland. Laura is half Spanish, so she speaks Spanish fluently and is ok at English, and Noora speaks perfect English and is ok at Spanish. So we don't have any problems communicating.

The apartment itself is another story. The neighborhood we live in is called "La Parte Vieja" which means "The Old Part." While this is definitely the most fun part of town, the buildings are all really, really old. I expect our apartment to collapse any day. The floors and ceilings are at about a 10 degree angle, so all the furniture is uneven and wobbly. We have to be careful not to fill bowls and mugs all the way, because otherwise their contents will spill over the edge when we set them down. We're getting used to it though. On the plus side, our apartment is pretty big compared to many other kids' apartments, so we are able to have people over a lot.

As far as school goes, I just finished the intensive Spanish course (we had our final exam on Thursday) and regular classes for the semester start on Monday. We have this whole week to go to different classes and see what we like, and then we can officially register for them next weekend. I don't have a lot of options for what classes I can take, so my schedule might not be the best. But I'll see what happens.

All I eat is pasta and fruit. They don't refrigerate eggs or milk here, so I'm going to stay away from those. Also, everyone puts mayonnaise on their french fries instead of ketchup. Gross. My roommates like to go running, so we've been doing that quite a bit. We're hoping to get on a more regular schedule once we get situated with our new class schedules and everything.

That's all for now. I'll try to update this blog more often so the posts aren't so long. Keep in touch!

Em

Nevermind...

The airline called me at 8:00 this morning saying that my flight from Cleveland to JFK had been cancelled due to weather, but not to worry because they had set up a new itinerary. They did indeed set up a new itinerary for me...but they did not book me tickets so I could follow it. So I'm here, in Cleveland. I'll leave for Spain tomorrow we hope.

Tomorrow!

I'm leaving tomorrow! I don't know if I'll have an internet connection right away, so I might not post for awhile.

My address is:

Plaza Sarriegi 9 3º
20003 San Sebastián

I'll be living about 6 blocks from either beach, and 2 or 3 kilometers from campus. The name of my university is Universidad Deusto.

My skype name is ezoop104 if you want to stay in touch.

I have a guide/ambassador type person, Ane, who is helping to show me around and answer my questions. I feel a lot more comfortable leaving now that I have her as a contact.

I'm excited! I'll be posting pictures on here and on facebook. Stay in touch, and I'll see you all in June :)