Farewell, Málaga; Hello, Sevilla

Sorry for the lack of update. I was shocked to arrive in Sevilla to find that there was no interenet in my apartment and I will ahve to use the school interenet when I can because it is free. I have a lot to write about since last firday afternoon, so I will try to get as much in as I can before I have to go to my class.
Friday night was wonderful. We had a great party full of food. My macaroni came out edible and some people even said they liked it. I enjoyed making it, but mostly I enjoyed eating everything. The professors brought pizza and one of Yumi´s (my roomate) friends made homemade sushi, YUM! WE had swedish meatballs and hummus, salad and enough bread to feed a third world country. There were about 26 people there and we stayed up until early in the morning talking and drinking and listening to music. Then I decided to start packing but did not get very far.
I woke up at 9 in order to get ready before the 1 o´clock bus I wanted to get to Sevilla. I packed my luggage and then Melanie and Magdalena got up and helped me clean up the mess we made of the living room. Tehn I said my goodbyes, returned my keys to the school and headed back to the bus station from where I arrived.
The city of Málaga is still ugly, especially by the bus station. But it has its charms. In the end I really enjoyed the sea and the sun and the people. The school was great and I tested out of A1. I loved my house and my housemates were great friends for the week, which, with the help of facebook, hopefully I will stay in touch with on some level. All in all, I was sad to leave Málaga and embark on a journey to a new city where I had to get to know new people, new teachers, a new schedule and a new town.
At the bus station I was in a pretty bad modd. I realized I really don´t like my traveling days and just wait for the bed on the other end and the next morning to come. As I sat and waited reading my book, I heard a Bon Jovi song on the radio. It was even from the acoustic album that never gets any play in the states. I though maybe the day was about to look up. And they did, for a little while.
I arrived in Sevilla and figured out how to get to the hostel where I had to pick up my keys. I got a taxi and he let me off in front of the street it was supposed to be on. I walked up and down the street twice and saw no sign of the Hostel Catalana. I walked back to the plaza I was let off in, and there it was right in front of my eyes.
The guy at the hostel desk was nice enough. He gave me my keys and a map and showed me where my apartment was. I wish I had realized then that it was not the one that I was first assigned to, because maybe I would have asked more questions about how to get there, since I only had directions to the apartment the school sent me in an email. He advised I take a taxi or a bus number 32. I opted for the buss. I got out at the train station as he instructed and walked toward Kansas City Avenida. It took a couple circles, but I found it in a sufficient amount of time. I knew from my map that the street went in two directions. I looked at the number and saw 32d, C, B... and surmised that 21 would be close on the opposite side of the street.
I crossed the busy road and made a few passes on the sidewalk searching for number 21. Half of the buildings did not have numbers. After maybe a half an hour I asked at a hotel. They called some people and told me that it was near the Cortes Ingles. So, since I had seen that on one of my many times down the road I walked back to teh Cortes Ingles.
The apartment was nowhere to be found. It was not on the side I had been on, it was not on the other side, it was not down a side street. I asked at another hotel but they were not helpful at all. The only told me that the road was really big and outlined it on a map. I made a few more laps up and down the street, but by this time it was getting dark and my arm was about to rip in two from the weight of my suitcase.
I went back to the Occidental Hotel (I would like to thank them very much for their kindness and patience) and asked if they knew where there was a phone I could use. By this time I suspected the apartment was on the other stretch of road around the corner, but I was too tired to explore so I called the school for confirmation of my address and to see it they could give me more detailed directions.
The first number didn´t work.
The second number didn´t work. I was wasting money trying to get the phoen to work. It was a type of pay phone that I had never seen (I´m lucky I had used one in my life) and I had trouble figuring out how to call. I didn´t really care about the money, though, as long as someone would pick up and help me find a place to stay for the night. I was tired (I only got 5 hours of sleep and I hadn´t really eaten since 10 in the morning).
Finally, someone picked up on the third number. The woman informed me that she was at a school in Granada. I explained that this was the only number I had that worked and she very graciously listened to my problem. Being in Granada, she had no idea how to help me but she told me to call her back in ten minutes and she would try to have some answers. I stepped out of the phone booth. I wanted to try and cause the least amount of disturbance possible since the hotel was being so hospitable, the man at the desk even offered me a seat (possibly because he caught me crying in the phone booth). I asked for more change from the desk and waited my ten minutes. I called back and she gave me some information and told me to call back again. I went through this 2 more times before she finally gave me an answer. Soemone was coming to get me! HALLELUH!
I walked outside and waited on the sidewalk and a man came up and said "Jennifer." He was from a pickup service the school uses and he brought me to the flat and took my luggage all the way up to my room. All for free!
So it wasn´t a pleasant welcome to Sevilla, but all ended well. My roomate´s name is Wan Chen. She is from Taiwan. She shared some of her paella with me that night and we watched TV together and talked. I did some laundry, took a shower and retired early to my bed.
The next morning I woke up around ten. Wan Chen offered me some hot chocolate and I ate a breakfast bar I had left from Málaga. A new student arrived around this time. Her name is Victoria, she is from Germany. After she got settled we decided to go find the school together and then we took a long walk around the town to see some of what was there. We saw the big cathedral, the Jewish barrios, the plaza de Espana and some gardens. It was a nice walk and a long one and by the time we decided that we wanted to eat something all teh kitchen s were closing. We found a small convenience store open where we bought water and some tortillas. We returned home and cooked the tortilla and then hung out. We met the two boys in our apartment from Amsterdam.
Yesterday was the test. I did ok. I explained that I had finished A1. The woman assigning my class explained that I culd go into A2 but they are very far along. There was a class of A1 that was finishing this Wednesday so I joined that one and will start A2 on Thursday. Wan Chen is in my class and Victoria has class at the same time so last night we all walked back together and went to the market on the way home to pick up food.
After the test we went out with one of teh teachers to walk around the town a little. sHe explained what things were and some good places to go. When we got back to the school we had about 2 hours before class so we went to a small cafe and got some breakfast things.
All in all, it´s been good here so far. I like my house mates and the school is ok. I like the school in Málaga better, but the teachers here are nice and I am still learning a lot. I have not done much today. I studied some, read a book and then walked to school (a 30 minute walk, which is good after the 2 minutes it took in Malaga because now I get more exercise). I have class soon so I will go.

Thanks for reading,
Jenn