Whoa

Actions: Well, I got here safe and sound and tired and excited! There's a group of about 50 in my same program...5 guys! haha. We all got bussed over to the hotel in Madrid which is right downtown.
API (my program) treated us to dinner (i like how they tell us that when.....WE are paying HOW MUCH for this program lol). Anyways, dinner was yummy and i met some nice girls. Most people are rooming with who they're rooming with in Seville, but the girl I'm in the hotel with also is rooming with someone who is already here, like me, so that worked out. This morning we went to the Palacio Royal which was AMAZING! We  couldn't take pictures on the inside, but that was the best part. There was a room for everything: one room for drinking tea, one room for smoking, billiards, a dining room, a room with the thrones, a room for musical performances, various rooms to just pass through, rooms with displays of silver, a room with musical instruments, etc. I'm determined to decorate one room of my future house in the "Rococó" style (my favorite room of the house was like that). Walked around a bit more through the Plaza mayor and in many little shops. Oh and our resident director knocked on the door of a convent!!! Definite highlight of the day, we got to go in their courtyard (not all the way in). The nuns gave us cookies that they made :)

Thoughts: So it looked just like the US for a solid 20 minutes at and out of the airport...kind of a buzzkill! However my buzzkill was quickly erased as we drove into Madrid. "Europe" jumped out at me just how I always thought it would. You just don't get castles,  statues, adorable balconies and random historical beautiful architecture in the US. Although I have heard that Madrid is very urbanized...which is indeed obvious. I'm glad I picked Seville (without even having been there) just because i know it will feel like a more "pure" spanish culture. At least in my head it is. I like it. And I'm ready to explore more. The people dress very nice (which I also knew going in), but its nice to see that people want to dress up, que linda. But ya, im in love so far. Mostly with the decorated balconies and tall narrow streets and brick pedestrian walkways and the market of course.