He llegado!

Or in English, I have arrived! I seriously could not be happier and more thrilled. I was so nervous today when my plane left. I was afraid that it would be awkward meeting my family or that I'd make a bad impression, but it turns out I had nothing to worry about. Alicia and Raul (my Spanish mom and dad) came to pick me up from the airport and were waiting right outside of baggage claim for me. They left the kids at their grandparent's house because I arrived at 6:30 this morning.

We drove right past the study center where I lived all last semester on the way to Pobla de Farnals. It was so funny seeing it again! It's weird that it was less than 6 months ago that I was so sad to be leaving. I didn't think I'd be back so soon!

Pobla de Farnals is beautiful! A dream come true really. I live right on the beach. Literally I can see it from my window. I had a couple hours this morning just with Raul and Alicia and we took the dog, Indio, a large but friendly Doberman, on a walk. I'm speaking only Spanish with them and I'm glad that all of my hard work with Spanish has obviously payed off because we communicate so easily. I've come a long way in a year.


A view of the beach from my window

Around 11 we went to pick Alicia and Andrea up from their grandparents' house where they had spent the night. Alicia (ok for future reference Alicia will mean mom and Ali will mean the baby, they both have the same name) is only 8 months old, has a huge toothless smile, and can't actually crawl yet, so she's just as cute as can be. Andrea has told her entire class and her teacher about me and her parents said she was so excited to meet me, but also really nervous. So she was really shy at first, but I can tell we'll be fast friends.


For lunch Alicia made really good pasta and salad and I ate some of the best strawberries ever. Alicia told me she actually planned to sleep the siesta, so I'm pretty pumped because I'm exhausted. Tonight is their neice's 9th birthday so I'll be going with them to celebrate. It's crazy how fast I'm already a part of the family.

I can't even describe how lucky I feel right now. It's unreal. Now that I'm here it's weird for me to remember how hesitant I felt about leaving the U.S. for the whole summer. I didn't really admit that to most people, but I was super nervous about leaving a place that felt comfortable to me. But this just goes to remind me that it's always worth it to take the plunge into the unknown! Pictures to come asap!