Forgive me.

I keep apologizing to the 7 of you that read my blog. I really am sorry that I'm not updating daily, but I really don't think it's something that I should keep apologizing for. Moving to a foreign country is pretty time consuming, and I think you all understand.

My situation has changed a little in the past few days. I've moved into the apartment that I will be living in for this semester. My roommate is Anna from Romania. She's very nice and we get along well. Right now it's just the two of us, but we know that we'll have at least one more roommate. She will move in at the end of September. Just picture the apartment that Mom, Dad, Grandmomma, and I stayed in. It's not like that AT ALL. It's quite old, a little run down, and only students have been living in it for the past several years. My room has one small window that looks into a dark alley. Needless to say, I don't open it. I have a pretty good bit of storage for clothes, but other than the armoire, only a bed and a very small shelf fit in the room. It's very tiny! However, we have a good sized kitchen, living room, and dining room. Anna scrubbed and disinfected the whole apartment from top to bottom before I arrived and it's very clean. She even cleaned the outside shutters!

This past week was pretty easy. Okay, it was VERY easy! We don't have classes on Fridays and today is a national holiday. So, we had a 3 day orientation. Anna and I celebrated yesterday by doing a little shopping... but mostly window shopping. I did have a finance class on Monday. The professor is really nice, and he knows the subject very well. I think it will be a good class. Our classes only meet once a week, but they meet for 2 hours at a time with no break. I know that doesn't seem very long, but I get SO antsy! I was alternating between fidgeting and dozing off by the time 45 minutes had passed. Yesterday, all of the new students and exchange students met on the school's patio for tango and tapas. Instructors will be at the school every Friday for anyone that wants to learn how to tango. It was fun to watch! :)

I'm still getting to know people, but it's hard. This week I've just been with the 1BBA (same as our freshmen) students, and while I've gotten to know a few of them, it's hard to share in their enthusiasm. I've already been through the "I'm living on my own for the first time and can stay out all night" phase. I rarely even stay awake into the wee hours of the morning to study. Maybe I'm just an abnormal college student, but I'm okay with just going out to eat and then going home. I don't want to go out to clubs that don't even open until midnight or 1. I want to be wearing my pajamas by that time. I really have loved college, but I'm getting to the point where I'm very okay with moving on to another phase. I don't plan to include long nights of drunkenness in that phase. So, while the people in the school are all very nice (and I really hope that I will make friends), I'll probably start reaching out to other parts of the community for companionship too.

I still haven't been able to visit a church. I'm torn between a solid church that conducts services in Catalan/Spanish or a not-so-solid church that conducts services in English. Both have their benefits. I would like to know your opinion.

Anna and I are about to make a visit to Ikea, but I'm going to leave you with a few pictures!
The Schells after the dinner and Flamenco show.

The musicians and a dancer. Mom bought a dress exactly like that the very next day. :)

These guys play in random places around the city center, and they are SO GOOD! It's a treat to stumble upon them.

Some sailboats and Reverie. I considered buying this one, but I decided that it probably wasn't big enough for all of my needs...

Please (please!) comment so I know who is reading! I hope you all are doing well! Off to Ikea...