Other Countries are Scary (but only at first)

   Today we woke up at 2 pm after an exhausting and overwhelming first day. We landed after 18 hours of traveling and then took a taxi ride to a Vodfone to get our Spanish cell phones, then met with the landlord and our realtor and her son to exchange our dollars to euros to pay for the apartment, checked the apartment out, and got some food, all in an intensely fast-paced rate in Spanish. By the time everything was done, it was 8 o'clock and we still hadn't gotten a chance to talk to our frantically worried families (sorry everyone for the lack of communication!). After we ate some dinner, there was nothing left to do but crash. Hence the waking up at 2 pm today. Since most things here close at 1 or 2, we weren't able to do any of the chores we wanted to, like grocery shop and open bank accounts. All that will just have to wait until Monday, giving us the rest of today and this weekend to sightsee and have fun! Today during what was meant to be our neighborhood stroll, we ended up walking through almost all of the city, stumbling upon fantastic things like one of the several beautiful gardens, the Plaza de España which has a small moat man made river around it where we rented a little row boat, La Giralda (a cathedral), a festival complete with a ferris wheel and chocolate stuffed churros called "El Festivo de los Mariscos Andalucias", and the Torre del Oro.
   Also, as a side note, Jamon Iberico may be the most delicious kind of ham/meat I've ever eaten. The picture makes it look like a plate of undercooked bacon, but I promise it's awesome. And if you ask for "chocolate caliente" ("hot chocolate") here, they will literally hand you a mug full of warm liquid chocolate.
   Yesterday everything seemed overwhelming and impossible and terrifying, but the more time I spend in this great country, the more comfortable I feel in my ability to survive here for 6 months. I'm still so homesick and scared, but I know that I will adjust and by the end of the trip, I will be crying just as hard about leaving here as have been about leaving home.