Quantum calculations are performed for an anion water cluster representing the first hydration shell of the solvated electron in solution. The absorption spectra from the ground state, the instant excited states and the relaxed excited states are calculated including CI-SD interactions. Analytic expressions for the nonadiabatic relaxation are presented. It is shown that the 50 fs dynamics recently observed after s -> p excitation is best accounted for if it is identified with the internal conversion, preceded by an adiabatic relaxation within the excited p state. In addition, transient absorptions found in the infrared are qualitatively reproduced by these calculations. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.