Sunday, June 26, 2011

Successful & Safe Arrival to Spain






Today I made it to Madrid at around 10AM on Sunday, June 26, 2011. I took off from Detroit at about 10:45AM on Saturday the 25th. My flight out of Detroit was delayed by about an hour, but it didn't really matter since I had a 7 hour lay-over in ATL anyway. While I was waiting, I unexpectedly ran into my friend, Alaina, who was also on my first flight from Detroit to Atlanta on her way to Ecuador. It was awesome to have company especially since I had to wait in the airport for a long time. I also met another girl on my program who was on both flights with me. I'm glad I had some flying buddies otherwise, I would have been slightly more lost!

The flights were awesome; it's been about six years since I've been on a plane, so I was totally thrilled by it all. I couldn't stop staring out of the plane window like a little kid! I just kept marveling at the incredibly engineering of airplanes and what they can do for us and being able to look at the world from a totally different perspective. When can you ever see so much at one time?

When I got to ATL, I pretty much relaxed and wandering around for a while. Waiting for my second flight went a lot faster than I thought. The international portion of the flight was pretty good. There were a lot more students from my program on this flight. I sat next to a woman from New Orleans who was going to Spain to teach and to do research. She was really nice and helpful the whole way and a good flight companion. The flight from Atlanta to Madrid was only about 8 hours or so. Flying over the ocean was totally crazy! So many clouds! The majority of the flight was over the ocean too. It's incredible how big it is. They served us dinner on the flight and I tried to sleep, but I don't think I got more than a few hours in... Not so comfortable! They woke us up at about 8AM Madrid time to give us breakfast and to prep for landing. Landing in Madrid was so surreal! I still can't really believe I'm actually in a foreign country.

I waited around at the MAD airport for a few hours with some people from my program. Everyone I've met so far seems really nice and cool. We eventually boarded the Avanzabus from Madrid to Salamanca at about 13:00 and headed on our way. I tried to check out the scenery for a while but I ended up falling asleep! I'm still super tired! It's 11PM here so I'm about to go to sleep after I finish writing this in hopes of getting on a normal schedule, but I think I should be fine within about two days.

When I got to Salamanca, we all met up in the bus station and then had the chance to walk around the city a bit before we met our host families. I walked around with a few other people and we stopped at a cafe in the main town plaza to rehydrate and then headed back. I was really nervous, but also excited to meet my host family.

I finally got matched up with my host mom. Her name is Rosa García Sanchez and she lives on Filiberto Villalobos street in an apartment. It's pretty nice. My room is near the front door of the apartment and it's kind of small, but just right for me. I put all of my belongings away and it's pretty comfortable. Rosa's apartment is really nice and clean. Across from my bedroom is a large room, which is like a hair salon. She said that she does hair in there... Pretty cool. Good thing I didn't bring any of my hair appliances... She's basically all decked out! Next to my room is the kitchen, then the bathroom is behind that, and then there are two more bedrooms and a family room/dining room. Pretty much we watch TV while we eat. It seems like a lot of TV watching happens on a daily basis. I'm also totally relieved that she has wifi in the apartment... I was a little worried. But this is great!

I gave Rosa the gift I had brought for her: a tile from Norther Michigan. I think she really liked it! Rosa's pretty sweet and nice to talk to. She said my Spanish was pretty good, so that's a relief since I'm only starting out here and I'm also pretty tired right now! Woah just heard English from the TV... Haha I think I'm beginning to think more in Spanish already automatically and it's only been a couple of hours. So far, it's also really hot here. Apparently, it's an "ola de calor" (wave of heat), but I'm pretty sure it was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit here today!

Rosa also has a 21-year old daughter named Sylvia who has graduated from the university already. I'm pretty sure she has another older daughter as well who has a baby boy. It doesn't seem like Sylvia hangs around here all the time, but I'll wait and see! She seems really sweet. I think she goes to take care of her nephew later in the day. Oh, and by the way, whenever you meet someone here, you kiss them once on each cheek. And next week, an Arab exchange student is moving in, which should be pretty exciting.

Dinner tonight happened after 9PM. That's normal for Spain, but I had a pretty good omelette with some cheese inside, a salad with some yummy balsamic vinegar-type dressing on it, bread, and a "paraguaya" which is a fruit that looks like a squished, fuzzy nectarine. I've definitely had these before in the US, but I forget what they're called in English.

Well that's all I've got for now. I'm probably going to fall asleep as soon as I lay down. I'm seriously EXHAUSTED!! I think I'm waking up around 7:45AM for some kind of group orientation at the universidad. Not quite sure what's going on yet. Also looking to get some kind of movíl (cell phone) set up tomorrow and pick up un diccionario (how did I forget mine?)... oops. Eh, maybe since I have internet I can live without buying another one. Google translate... YES!

Buenas noches y hasta la próxima vez.

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