First day

What a long day! Well technically it was two, but since I didn't sleep for more than an hour I'm counting it as one! That’s right, I've been up since Tuesday, 9:30 (EDT) and dinner won't be served until at least Wednesday, 4:00 (EDT). I flew from Indianapolis at 6:05 just made my flight to Spain from Philadelphia as they were calling the last boarding zone! Hardly had to wait at all. The plane wasn't super comfortable but not to bad considering sitting in the same place for 6 hours. Unfortunately I didn't sleep more than an hour on the plane because the girl sitting next to me was afraid to fly and we hit a bit of turbulence during my nap. She decided it would be a good idea to wake me up and freak out. By this point the sun was coming up and I can't sleep when it's sunny out, but luckily I didn't feel too tired at all.

Other than not resting on the flight it was an easy trip! "Customs" were a breeze (I say "customs" because there was barely anything to it. They didn't check my baggage at all—only looked at my passport). I braved riding the Metro with two large bags and a backpack looking like a complete American. Luckily hardly anyone rides the Metro at 11am so it was no problem.

I arrived at my homestay a little after noon Spanish time and was greeted by my extremely friendly and accommodating host, Sandra. She is a TV reporter for the local equivalent of PBS and has three dogs, Nala a white golden retriever (strange I know), Max, a dust mop, and Berto, the new stray that has been here for 6 days. O! she also has a 12 year old son, Alex (who I am currently helping with English homework).

We had an orientation meeting today at 4pm so I had a little time to relax at home, which just made me tired. :-/ My roommate, Seth, and I were a few minutes late because we took the circular metro route the long way to the stop we wanted... we thought they were equidistant... they weren't. So then we had to brave the bus system on our own to get to the building in time to meet all the people who were on that had taken a quasi walking-tour of campus to the building. No mishaps there! Made just in time to check in and get our monthly transportation passes and other information about this semester.

I just returned from the orientation a few minutes ago and now turns out dinner is done early!! So I think I'm going to go eat my entire body weight in delicious Spanish cooking and then sleep for 3 days!