El Viaje Larga

I can’t believe the day has come…I have arrived in Spain, just not quite in Seville. I am currently waiting 8 hours for my flight from Madrid to Seville after something got messed up and they overbooked my original 11:50 flight. So, I went from a quick 2 hour layover between my 9:45 arrival to an 8 hour one as I wait with a gaggle of other students for the 6:00 flight. Thus far, travel has been interesting; the first flight (Chicago®JFK) brought a pilot who made landing quite a ride by bouncing down the runway, the second (JFK® Madrid) brought llloooonnnnngggg hours of not sleeping just looking at stars and a TV dinner that neither Maddie nor Bruno would touch. The third flight shouldn’t be too long, that is, if we make it till then. I’m getting some déjà vu of spending 8 hours in the airport on the way home from Haiti with the added confusion of no internet, phone, and a language barrier.

           Yummy airplane dinner. ¡Buen provecho!

      Many things are already different over here. Wine is cheaper than water, they have these crazy diagonal moving walkways (I made some pals, Andrea and Brianna, go on them 6x), their bathrooms smell like the dentist, and they serve yogurt out of a machine like soda. Oh, and the attitude towards foreigners is much less patient. Whereas in the US, people tend to be patient with questions, Spaniards want none of that. They also didn't understand the crying girl who screamed about wanting her money back for a problem that was not the workers fault (the change in flights). Then again, none of us did. Jajaj

Guarding our baggage and attempting a nap

      I’m already realizing that I cannot have a ‘plan’ for my time here in Spain. You want to get to Seville, meet your family, and be shown around? Think again. You want to tell your parents you are safe and to not expect an email for a while? That will be 1 EURO, and you only get 10 minutes. Regardless of the curveball that was thrown into my itinerary, I know this is a lesson that is going to come back repeatedly. And it’s definitely a lesson I am excited to learn and embrace.

            While there are many people that I am sad to leave and will miss dearly, I feel so blessed to be immersed in such a different culture. I am excited for what each day brings in this beautiful place. I have only flown over the city and have seen the rolling hills and amazing plateaus (my favorite geographical phenomena) in Madrid and I cannot imagine the beauty that lay ahead in this journey.

            Estoy nerviosa sobre las gran diferencias de la lengua y la vida diaria, pero sé que estoy preparada por una experiancia que va a cambiar mi vida por siempre. La belleza de la vida crece con cada dîa.