The first week in Spain!

I arrived in Spain Saturday, August 28th. I've been here a little over three days, but it seems like a lifetime since I left the States. My host family has been absolutely awesome so far. They helped me figure out all my paperwork stuff for temporary residency and they even bought me a swimsuit for my birthday yesterday. The family is made up of the parents, María and Antonio, and their three kids, Irene (12), Eva (10), and Diego (8). The kids love playing cards, so we have been doing a lot of that, in between swimming and running errands. Eva is super competitive and almost died of excitement when she beat me at Egyptian War, a card game. I taught them it yesterday and they are in love with it. I have my own room on the 4th floor of their house/apartment. It's not very wide but is quite tall. We eat supper at around 10 every night. The food so far has been delicious, except some weird mushroom-like things we had last night.

Tomorrow we are leaving for a family vacation to San Sebastián in the north of Spain. We're also going to hit up France since it is close by. It's weird to be going on a family vacation with a family that isn't mine, but I'm optimistic. This trip will be the first time my first time seeing the ocean. When I told them I had never seen the ocean, all the kids were like, "NEVER?!?!?!" Spain is about the size of ND and SD put together, so they don't get how big the US is. We'll return from San Sebastián Sunday.

I can already tell my Spanish is improving. At first my Spanish was awkward. I've said some stupid things, but they're pretty good about not laughing at me. Classes start Monday, September 6th, but I don't get to register until the 7th.. It will work out I guess. 

Spain has been positive so far. I am looking forward to an awesome year and awesome people. Tonight I'm going out for tapas with another girl who is here from NDSU, to celebrate our first week in Spain and my 21st birthday. ¡Yay for tapas!