I'm in Spain!

Written Tuesday May 17

As I am writing right now, I am sitting on the bed of my apartment in Spain!  I have the window cracked open and the sun is shining into the cute, springy room.  The sounds of Spanish music is playing from outside.  Maybe it’s my imagination, but I swear that I can smell bread from the store below baking.

Our journey started off at the O’Hare Airport in Chicago.  My mom, dad, and sister came to see me off.  While we were waiting in line (and I was carrying what seemed like 100 pounds of luggage between my checked bag, carryon, backpack, and little purse), a girl that was standing behind us in line started talking to us.  I originally thought that she could be a college student going to Spain on a Study Abroad like me.  However, she was actually from Spain and attends school in the U.S.  It was really nice to talk to her and ask her a bunch of questions about Spain.  It definitely helped put my mind at ease.

My family said goodbye to me at security.  And yes, I got a little teary eyed.  With the fast pace of security, I quickly regained my composure.  Soon I met up with some other kids from my school at the gate.  I enjoyed talking to them as we waited three hours for our flight to arrive.

When our plane came, I was shocked to see how large it was.  Super long and super wide, the plane had two seats, an aisle, four seats, an aisle, and two seats.  I was stuck on the inside of the four seats, so it was a tight fit.  The plane ride took a really long time!  Unfortunately we didn’t take off right away, so we were sitting an extra 30 minutes.  I think I dosed off for a good 15 minutes later into the flight, but I really wish I could have gotten more.  Despite this, I sat next to some nice people and talking to them made the time go by much faster!

After our nine hours, we arrived in Madrid around 7:45 am.  This stop was more hectic than I thought it could be.  Our group of thirty powerwalked to the lower part of the terminal.  There we went through Passport Control.  I actually had a very positive experience here.  I asked a question in Spanish to the man who was stamping passports.  He told me that I had good Spanish, and we had a nice little conversation about my trip to Santander.  This boosted my confidence to know that I can converse effectively with a native speaker.  And I got a new passport stamp!

Then, we had to take a tram to go different part of the terminal.  We had to go through another security check.  I was dreading to take out all my stuff again.  It was even more difficult because there wasn’t a conveyor belt to directly put your boxes of stuff in to be x-rayed.  Instead you had to carry all of your boxes about 10 feet to the x-ray machine.  In my haste, I forgot to take off my watch, so I set off the machine.  I thought I would have to take off the watch and then walk through the machine again.  Alternatively, the security lady patted me down.  It ended up being less awkward than I imagined.

But after that, we were in the clear.  We walked through to the terminal to board our plane from Madrid to Santander.  Once again, this was unusual because we were lead to a bus that drove us to the plane that did not board on the terminal.  We had to climb up stairs to enter the plane!  Fortunately, we had beautiful weather.  The smaller plane was a quick 35 minute ride to Santander!

We landed and picked up our luggage.  A bus then took us to the UIMP, the University where we will be taking our classes.  It wasn’t until the moment that we pulled up to the UIMP that I realized what I would be doing this summer.  I’ve been very excited to go to Spain, but the reality of the trip never hit me.  My mom helped me pack luggage and get stuff ready, but it still didn’t seem real.  Even the night before my flight, I hardly tossed and turned.  But as soon as I saw the UIMP and our families waiting to pick us up, a little bit of fear ran through me and I wondered what I got myself into.

*Sorry this is so long.  I promise the rest of my posts will not be as long.

**Later this week I'll be writing about my host mother, challenges in Spain, and the food!