¡Olé!

And so my journey begins.  On January 27th, 2008 my parents dropped my off at George Bush Intercontinental Airport where I boarded a British Airways flight to London, where I was barely able to catch a connecting flight to Madrid with my traveling partner Mariah.  

Mariah is a great story.  Mariah just so happen to sit next to me on a practically empty flight to London, where through a little chit chatting we discovered that we were both from H

ouston, both students at UT, and both going to Cádiz with API to study.  She's great.  I've given her the nickname of Sleepy because she seems to be sleeping or wanting to sleep at just about anytime of the day.

We were in Madrid for 4 days for orientation and sight seeing with groups going to Seville and Bilbao.  Madrid has some baller sandwiches for €.80 and sometimes cheaper.  They were everywhere and varied in fillings so I made it a habit to get some of these for a snack...or just so I could try every different type.  

I really got to know the Bilbao students and really enjoyed their company during our stay in Madrid.  The funny thing is that most of them are from the north east so I got to tell them about Jeff Bechdel and how much (playful) crap I give him for being a "yankee."  The whole north/south topic of conversation is so much fun.  I was even asked at one point if there were monkeys in Texas. Yes, monkeys.  

Oh those Bilbao kids.  They're all art students and maybe that's why I fit in so well with them.  Before we left for Cádiz I got the offer to be snuck to Bilbao in a suitcase and that definitely let me feel the love.  The Cádiz kids are cool, but Bilbao hit me hard and quick with who they were.  Pretty cool.

Unfortunately we had to part ways and now I'm in Cádiz, but Cádiz is baller.  It's small but beautiful and has everything you need.  Living in the dorms on my own is very scary and intimidating but by the grace of God some of  the kids here have already extended their hands in friendship.  God willing more and better friendships will flourish from this little housing situation of mine.