España - Day 1

Flying over the length of Spain to Madrid, the land below looked familiar and strange. Mountains, small but snow-capped, off to the east, and rolling hills with olive orchards reminded us of past and present homes. After navigating Madrid-Barajas airport and the Atocha train station, both with mutiple levels between which to pull suitcases up and down ramps and escalators, the scenes swishing past our windows on the high-speed AVE train to Sevilla invited comparisons to West Texas, the Hill Country and the Valley.

The dryness and miles of fields reminded us of the caprock as did the wind turbines. The orchards, palm trees, bouganvilla and white houses with red tiled roofs show the Spainish influence promoted by the land developers of much of the Valley. The rolling hills covered with oak trees of Wimberley could have been directly transplanted from Andalucia.

Sevilla is already revealing itself to us. For the next two months, we will live in the Barrio de Santa Cruz, defined by its entwined, cobbled streets and the crosses found in it´s eponymous plaza and elsewhere. Our host mother already mothers us as we all struggle to overcome our limited understanding of each other´s language. Christina is a delight and has fallen in love with us as we have with her.

A brief walk in the gardens of the Alcazar where a more unfortunate reminder of past homes. Trees and shrubs are gloriously in bloom, oleander, Spanish broom, jacaranda, chaste tree and more, triggering long dormant allergies to burst out vigorously. Farmacias are numerous so relief is just a short stroll away.

The TTU campus occupies the second floor of a building covering approximately one-quarter of a block. As with most buildings in a centuries old city, it has been rebuilt and enlarged many times, making it impossible to find even one corner that is square.

Students we have met seem glad to see friendly faces and bubble over with the excitement of their adventures.

Off to the farmacia, now, and then later out for drinks and tapas, perhaps.

I wonder if Tuesdays can be beach day for engineering students. The Spanish, business and architecture students say the beach is wonderful on that day.