where I am now

As this is my first blog, I humbly ask a little tolerance of the reader while I find my voice. Later, I'm sure I'll say something along the lines that you should never apologize to your readers, but for now, here it stands.

I'm exactly one-third of the way through a four-month term in Seville, Spain, the hottest city in Europe. I would say that it's also the craziest & most picturesque, but I honestly don't have broad enough experience to back that up.

I live with a middle-aged [but still young at heart] woman named Rosario in an apartment about a twenty minute walk from the center of the city. We don't have a lot of space, but we don't need a lot, either. She spoils me and feeds me amazing food, and in return, I try not to be too much of an inconvenience [I fail].

I attend classes at the "centro" with about twenty other students from UMich, Cornell, and UPenn as well as classes at the University of Seville with students from all over Europe and the rest of the world. I'm studying Spanish literature and history--I read and write papers, the same things I do at the University of Michigan [but on a smaller scale].

In my free time, I talk to my friends and family on skype [oh, how I love living in the modern world] and, when I can scrounge up the money, travel. So far I've visited various cities in Spain--Cádiz, Córdoba, Madrid--and Karlsruhe, Germany [including a short trip over the border so that I could say that I've eaten a meal & set foot in France].

I also spend my time planning my wedding [May 22, 2010, 234 more days]. Most of it's done--now I'm just amusing myself designing monograms and playing with invitation wording & design. We'll see how much I actually DIY.

This is me, where I'm at. I'll fill in details later. For now, I'm off to skype & explore the world.