Los Primeros Días en España!

He llegado! Por fin...

It was a long couple of days of traveling.  But for my first flight that was ~6 hours long I got upgraded (by chance!) to business class.  It was wonderful :).  I could recline the seat all the way flat and there was a "gourmet" meal (which consisted, for me anyways, of instant-indian cuisine).  The flight was okay, though I was facing backwards, and we landed a little early.  When we got to Heathrow, I had to take a bus to my terminal.  It was pretty weird...it was like a 20-minute bus ride to my terminal and I was really worried that if I was going to the wrong one, it would take too long to get to the right one.

Anyways, I got on the flight, there was one other girl on my flight who was in my program in Oviedo.  We weren't sitting close, and she was getting a connecting flight to Asturias and I was going to take a train.  Once I got into Madrid I found the internet and emailed my parents and updated facebook :). Once I collected my luggage, I had to wait for about 5-6 hours for my train.  Finally my train came and THAT took 5 hours.  I had to buy a "preferente" ticket, which was basically the same as business class on a plane, but with better food, and much worse entertainment and seats.

My host family met me in Oviedo at 11:30pm Sunday night at the train station.  I have a host mother, Mabel, who lives alone.  Her daughter lives elsewhere in Oviedo (I think).  My room is kinda small because there are two beds, but it's comfortable.

Today was my first day in Oviedo!  I had my placement exam this morning, so I'll find out how I did when I get to the school tomorrow for clases!  After the exam, we went to a shopping center to look for phones and other various things.  I got a flip phone!  That texts w/ T9!  Welcome to 2005 :D.  But it's fine, it'll do for while I'm here.

After lunch w/ my host mother, I went on a walking tour w/ all the people who are in the program, not just the UMass students.  It was good, here are some pictures from the tour and from my walks around the city:

Una Casa Muy Bonita

A view from the top...

A View from the Bottom!

My Apartment Building :)

The Quiet Streets of Oviedo

When I know what these buildings are (at least the famous ones) I will update this entry w/ captions for the pictures!  For now, you will just have to accept that there are in Oviedo!

After we went on the walking tour, the coordinators of the tour took us to a Cidreria, where they serve hard cider (cidra), which is the regional drink.  It didn't cost anything, so everyone tried some.


***Long entry, I know.  I won't normally give a play-by-play of my days, but I figured I would for the very first day that I was in Oviedo, Espana.  I also can't promise that I will continue writing in English ;).

Hasta Luego!