Hallelujah chorus

Hello! Or, should I say, Hola! I think I should, it´s one of the few Spanish words I know, so I should take advantage of that. Well, 22 hours later, offically in Espana! Beyond exhausted, BEYOND. You might be thinking, if you are that tired, why are you blogging instead of sleeping? Valid question. I am also beyond starving (I am not one to consume unidentifiable airplane food) so I am waiting for the cafeteria here at Agora International Housing to open. 15 more minutes (not like I'm counting).

I've been in Spain less than 2 hours and I'm already learning! My first lesson... I don't speak Spanish. This lack of Spanish speaking was more than evident in the taxi cab over here. I would say the few phrases I know, trying to make conversation, but when he would answer I hadn't a clue what he was saying. He could have been speaking Japanese for all I knew. I thought I'd be able to identify some words and roughly translate sentances.... not so.

But even in this beautiful foreign city with a language I do not understand, I am still seeing bits of the ol´ US of A. Example: I saw a yaris!!! Which was exciting. "Halo" by Beyonce was on the radio. For a moment, when it first came on, I thought the song was in Spanish and that I was secretly fluent and just discovering it. Sadly, that was just the exhaustion and airplane cabin fever kicking in and the song was, in fact, in English.

Ok my eyes are rebelling and refusing to stay open and the chorus of my stomach growls is growing. So I think this is going to be it for today.

But one more thing...

Best thing to happen so far (aside from the shower I just took which felt amazing). I was unpacking in my room and I heard gospel singing. I obviously couldn't understand it (for above mentioned reasons) but I could just tell. And, it being Sunday and all, I had a good feeling there must be a church service going on near by. It sounded like it was outdoors, and with my window open I could hear a worship singer leading what sounded like a pretty large group of people. Then, out of the Spanish mumbo jumbo, I heard a word I recognized. It was probably the first word I have understood since I´ve been here: Hallelujah.

Couldn't be a more perfect way to start my trip.