Accordions and stomping feet

Over the few days I had before orientation I just kind of spent some more time wandering around the city. I went to a "world fair" type thing with my friend's roommates. It ended up being tents representing maybe 12 countries - all countries around Spain or which speak Spanish. The Mexico tent was interesting - full of Aztec decorations and Easter Island heads. TexMex here is also NOT what I think of haha.

But now orientation is going on, so I'm in a hotel over the next couple of days. The stuff we're being taught I've mostly already heard before, but it's not so bad. We all went to a flamenco show tonight which was amazing, and now I'm sold on taking flamenco lessons. I mean come on, put passionate dancing/stomping and amazing guitar music together and you've got yourself a winning combination. I've also been kind of scoping out yoga classes and places to go run - so if this keeps up I'm going to come home more in shape than when I left haha. It won't take much, though, with the amount of walking I do all over the city.

Tomorrow I'll actually start the apartment search. We have free time until 3, so I figure that's enough time to give myself a jumpstart on looking.

One last thing...

So I'm walking home from the flamenco show tonight with three other girls and we see a guy a little ways ahead of us with an accordion strapped to his back. One of the girls yells "play us a song!" The guy stops, turns around, and begins to play. He walks with us and plays for us all the way to the hotel, and then yells "buenas noches" to us as we all go inside. I love Spain.

I'm finally here!

After more stairs, buses, trains, trams and airplanes than I ever imagined, I'm in Sevilla! I'm staying with a friend who had to work most of the day, so I just kind of rested up and then went and explored a little on my own. I didn't take any pictures or anything like that, but I found my way to the main Cathedral in Sevilla and to a Mas grocery store. And I found my way back. All without a map. I was so proud of myself haha.

Tomorrow starts the apartment search... should be interesting.

After Ike

Post-Ike life in the area I'm from hasn't been all that bad. Like my dad said, "It's like camping, only you can't go home because you're already there."

We were fortunate and never lost water and we got power and electricity back within 24 hours of my getting home. Everything does have a weird Alas, Babylon feel to it, though. Like I should be telling people to conserve their whiskey to clean their wounds or something.

Also, a huge chunk of the pine trees in our neighborhood got knocked down, so there's that distinct piney scent everywhere you go. It makes me feel like I'm living some twisted version of Christmas - except you give away half of your trees and don't get any presents; kids aren't in school so they can play whenever and wherever they want - as long as they avoid the downed powerlines; and instead of 'don't eat the yellow snow' the saying is 'don't play in the green pools.'

But we have been really lucky, and I'm thankful. We only lost two trees, and although they were massive, they avoided our house and only took out part of our fence. Things could have been much worse. Here's an idea of what our backyard looked like right after:

On a different note, Spain prep is going well - only a few more days!

Eleven days

The countdown has officially begun before I take off for Spain!

So in preparation I've spent the last week travelling all throughout Texas saying goodbye to friends and family, which has been wonderful. But now I'm stuck away from home. I was supposed to be headed back to Houston tomorrow to really start packing, but Hurricane Ike has put a stop to that. Oh well, we'll see just how skilled and quick of a packer I am when I finally get back down there haha.

And just a quick not to anyone who may be applying for student/work visas in the future:

An Apostille of the Hague is essentially a notarization of a notarization - confused much? I was.

Basically, if you've had anything notarized, like a background check, the apostille says that the notary you used is legitimate. If you're from Texas you get an apostille from the office of the Texas Secretary of State. If you mail it in it takes around 10 business days, if you take it there yourself it takes about 15 minutes. Don't put it off to until the last minute!

Here's the Web site with the phone number and everything:
http://www.sos.state.tx.us/authinfo.shtml

Also, be nice to all of the secretaries you have to deal with at all of these offices - they can be your best friends if you're stressed for time!