How Aubree got her Groove Back

Greetings from sunny Sevilla! Well, actually at this exact moment it's not sunny- it is 10pm here and the sun has turned to black. I am sitting in my living room and enjoying the breeze from the balcony. I better enjoy it while it lasts, because the locals are saying winter will come early this year :(
So things are starting to get settled in my apartment. I have officially moved into my new bedroom, which happens to be the biggest, the brightest and the least noisy of all four bedrooms. I am quite happy with my room and feel very comfortable there. The walls are painted light blue, which is quite nice and calming, compared to the purplish-gray walls of my last room. Those walls weren't even a color- they were just blah.
In the apartment its me, my new French roommate Lea (she's awesome and so much fun) and Cora from Germany (medicine student, super awesome and cool chick!). Marco is still here, he will be here until november, and then a mexican law student will move in his room. I am very excited about the prospect of living with a mexican because A) I can speak Mexican with him, which is distinctly different from Spain Spanish, and B) maybe he'll bring me so hot sauce and jalapenos and other fine spicy mexican food which I dream of every night!
I went to my school in brenes this past week to get my schedule for the year. It was great to see my professors and the students again. It really lifted my spirits since before then I was trying to fend off a little homesickness (yes, miss independent does suffer from it from time to time!). I saw some of my students from last year and they all gathered around me in the hall and gave me kisses and asked me tons of questions and were generally pretty excited. Its a big ego boost to be around the kids of brenes, because they are so affectionate with me.
so this year my schedule is quite different than last year. Last year I worked with a variety of ages and levels and visited each class once a week, and also worked one-on-one with computer science professors. this year i am primarily working with the youngest kids, and the best kids in the Bilingual program. Basically these kids need good grades and special permission to be in this program, so i will be working with the best of the best. The group is called 1G, and they are the smartest and best behaved out of all other 1st years. This is a change from last year, when 1A was the best group and 1G was the worst. They apparently switched the levels around to fool people into thinking that one group is better than the other. If you ask me it's a bit strange to group children like that into "good" and "bad" groups, but whatever! anyway, I will primarily be working with 1G (which, coincidently, includes Guillermo, the youngest son of my boss, whom I adore!). I will NOT be entering their English classes, but rather their Music, P.E., Social Science and Math classes, but all of these classes will be in English. I will also visit 1E English class once a week and a class of 18-19 year old Computer Science classes once a week. So needless to say, I will be getting to know the kids of 1G pretty well this year! The bad thing about my schedule is that i have to be in brenes at 8:15 three days of the week, which means I have to leave my house at 7 to catch the train. I know, I know, many of you out there get up at 6-something or maybe even earlier. Good for you. I am NOT a morning person, and it doesn't help that the sun doesn't rise here until 8 in the morning, so I will be arriving at school just as the sun is starting to shine.
On another note, I am pleased to announce that I have so many offers for private English lessons that I just cannot accept any more classes, or I won't have any sort of a social life.
anyway i think i'm going to start winding down my evening and preparing for an early morning. this weekend is the Brenes Fair, which means no school on Friday OR the following monday. I am definitely going to the fair one of the days, my students have been begging me to come and I don't think I can pass up the great experience. I will take pics! :)

Anyway, so yeah, I am feeling better and better about everything. I feel like I'm getting my groove back slowly, and everything's gonna be A-OK. Still miss my friends and fam a lot though. I miss you, TEENS!
Before I sign off, I would like to give a great big welcome to my new cousin Braden Joseph Hartsock, and congrats to the proud parents Jill and Billy. I'm so sad I can't be there in person to share in the exciting moment, but I read your blog daily!

Until soon,
Aubs