My First Day

I arrived yesterday to a very warm welcome after countless hours of traveling.  My host mother is incredibly friendly, and although I can only understand about half of what she says (maybe less) we seem to communicate fine with a combination of speaking and charades.  She immediately sat me down to a giant plate of pasta and salad.  Although it was delicious, I had almost no appetite due to my lack of sleep.  My host mother was so generous though, and allowed me to sleep right up until dinner time.

Mi dormitorio

I have my own room, which is both enormous and beautiful.  I have more than enough closet space, and a desk for studying.  Now that I've unpacked and settled in it is really starting to feel like home.  From my window one can see Calle Arabial, one of the main streets, which although is on the outskirts of town, is nonetheless quite busy.  The breeze that comes through the window is ideal, and even though outside it is quite hot, because of the breeze there is no need for air conditioning.

Mi gato, Kiko

Today we picked up my roommate who will be living with us and studying in my program as well.  I had a wonderful lunch with my roommate, my host mother, and her daughter.  Afterwards, my roommate went to her room to take a nap and I went to the park across the street to explore which was both enormous and, needless to say, gorgeous.

 Though it is in the middle of a city, there were trees and flowers everywhere

 There were benches everywhere as well, and though one can't see from the picture, there were actually a lot of people there for a Monday afternoon

 There is even a mini workout area

 An outdoor area for events

 A beautiful pond 

A giant playground is located at the far end

We had a delicious dinner of tortilla española y jamón (a personal favorite of mine- a dish consisting of eggs, potatoes, and ham).  After dinner my roommate and I explored the nearby area, and found a few coffee shops we might venture back to, as well as a 3-story mall just down the street.