Hace tres semanas...

Hace tres semanas, or three weeks ago, I arrived in Huelva after traveling for 15 hours. I flew from Raleigh to Philadelphia, from Philly to Lisbon, Portugal, and then from Lisbon to Faro, Portugal. From Faro Airport I had to take a bus into the city, and from that bus station I took another bus into Huelva. Talk about a long day! I had made arrangements to stay with Jane, the other auxiliar working in Alosno, for the first night, so I dragged all my luggage a block away (¡qué suerte!) to her apartment building, where I was supposed to be meeting her friend that was also staying with her at the time. Well, I had arrived thirty minutes earlier than expected, and no one was home when I buzzed in. So I plopped myself down on a bench and waited, all while listening in on the canoodlings of two Spanish teenage lovebirds. Half an hour later Rachel showed up, and we tried to be as un-awkward as possible with each other, since neither of us knew the other and neither of us lived in this apartment. I was able to take a nap and shower all before anyone else showed up, which was nice, but then everyone else came back home! I finally met Jane, her roommate Jess, and Miriam, Rachel's roommate. Miriam and Rachel were planning on moving into the apartment directly below Jane and Jess, but it was still under construction. After eating some snacks while everyone else ate dinner (I lived on granola bars and crackers for the next few days, thanks Mama!), I decided to go out for un ratito (a little bit) with Jane and Rachel. It was there that I met my roommate, Regina! She was a friend of Jane's, and just happened to be looking for a roommate, unbeknownst to anyone. Again, ¡qué suerte! I continued to stay with Jane for the next few days, but I finally moved in with Regina after talking more with her and seeing her apartment. During those few days I explored the city a little bit, went to the beach, met with Rocío, my coordinator at the school in Alosno, and made a ton of friends! Rocío and I decided that I would ride with her to school everyday, which for me is only Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Four day weekends? I'll take it! Since then, I have opened a bank account, applied for my NIE (my Spanish identification card), picked up two private English lessons as well as two English classes in an academy called Kedaro, all while managing to take full advantage of the famous "siesta" that the Spanish love so much. ¿Qué bien, no?