Jueves - 17.20

Well, my journey is almost complete. I am sitting in the orientation hotel room now, waiting out the next 3 hours and 40 minutes until dinner. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

Study abroad has always been a dream for me, particularly to España. That’s sort of what my journey here was like – a dream. My first flight was from Flint to Cleveland on Wednesday, May 30^th at 1:41pm. It was a small plane, and didn’t handle turbulence well. It was a rocky flight. It kind of felt like I was in an elevator that went up or down too quickly with the sudden changes. But I didn’t get lost when we landed at Cleveland. I found my way easily, and stopped along the way to buy dinner; a small sandwich. The flight was also choppy, but not as much as the previous one. Arriving in Newark was pleasant, because I didn’t need to go through customs again, like I thought I would have to. I bought a water bottle and waited out my layover calmly. I passed the time by texting, the last time I’ll be able to text for two months.

This plane was much larger, obviously, since it needs to fly the farthest. We were given a dinner, which I didn’t expect. I got chicken and rice. It was white rice with carrots, broccoli, and green beans mixed in. It was pretty delicious, but I think I’m among the few who enjoy airplane food. It was served with a salad and a dinner roll. Dessert was a brownie with butterscotch chips. Yummy! I wasn’t able to sleep as much as I wanted to, the seats were so uncomfortable! I had the pillow (which can barely be called so) behind my back to try and give it a more natural posture, and the blanket all the way up to my shoulders. On the plane I was hoping I wouldn’t regret the decision not to bring a jacket.

I had an aisle seat, which was nice, except that the stewardesses had to keep reaching over me, and the two people sitting next to me had to crawl over me to use the bathroom. Breakfast was served; a warm roll with butter and strawberry jelly, and fruit. I didn’t eat the fruit. We landed twenty minutes early, though we had to wait on the runway for ten while another plane left our gate. I was able to go through the small gate where my passport was stamped and find baggage claim. I waited a long time, but my bag eventually came out, cheerful to see me. We took a shuttle to the hotel because I didn’t want to have to navigate on my own. I was able to check in with USAC and the hotel and was given my room key and my orientation packet.

That’s the story of how I got here. However, in my case, unlike the popular saying, it’s not about the journey, but the destination. I didn’t get to see much from the plane, as I was in the aisle, and driving on the shuttle didn’t offer much of a view, but it was enough to see the beautiful architecture of the surrounding buildings. After I was checked in, I put my bags in my room and briefly read through some of the orientation materials to make sure they were all there. Then, I waited for Gabriela (housing coordinator) to meet me to go over final details of my home stay.

As per mother’s request, my next task was to let her know I had arrived safely. I can’t use my phone until the first of June, which is tomorrow, the hotel didn’t have computers, and their wi-fi was too expensive for me. So I headed to the street to an internet café I had been told about. I found it without a problem and entered the tiny shop. I had a moment of panic when I had to communicate with the employee, though I was able to remember enough to get my message across: neccesito usar una computadora. The man could tell I was American and began speaking to me in English. But I tried, and it wasn’t completely awful. I paid my 1.5€ and got an hour of internet time. I visited Facebook where I chatted with Brianna and then mom. It made me feel less lonely, since I have yet to really meet anyone else on the program here. I’m kind of being a hermit today.

After the internet, I headed to the Atoche train station to get photos taken for my metro card, as I was instructed. As usual, I took a few wrong turns along the way. However, I did find the station. On my little detour I found a rather large penguin statue, and thought of Brandon. Then I thought how odd it was to have a penguin in such a warm climate. Once to the station I was able to find the photo booth alright and take some decent photos. I’ll give them to Susan (program director) later tonight, before dinner. I bought a small sandwich at the station for lunch, since I was starving! It wasn’t very good, really hard and dry, but I ate it anyway. I took the same route back and again marveled at how cool this place is; the architecture is gorgeous!

Mom advised me not to take a nap, as I had planned, but to shower to help wake me up and keep me going. So I opened my suitcase to get my shower stuff and a change of clothes.

My shampoo exploded.

It was all along the side of my bag and had pooled up at the bottom. Everything was white and creamy. I decided to shower first and then take care of it. I spent two hours rinsing the affected clothes, and decided to skip a few articles. My brown dress, tangerine dress, and white t-shirt were all affected, but only in small, unnoticeable areas, so I’m letting them dry out now. My new running shorts had a lot, since they took most of the side splatter. They’re a thin material that’ll dry quickly, so that wasn’t too bad to rinse out, though it was a pain. My brown shrug was hit, and it’s brown, so I couldn’t let it dry. It’s hanging in the closet now to dry. My poor white dress took the majority of the goop. It was saturated in parts. Its hand wash, line dry only, so I didn’t figure it’d be too bad to rinse it. It took a very long time, but I think it’s clean now. It’s also in the closet drying.

Now I’m sitting on the bed, watching my camera battery charge, letting my suitcase dry out, my clothes dry, waiting for my roommate, and wondering what to do next. Group dinner is at nine, about two hours from now. My laptop is slowly dying, and I’m really tired. I suppose I’ll read some of the stuff I got in the orientation packet, but that doesn’t sound too exciting. I’ll write again tomorrow, after orientation and after I meet my family. Wish me luck!!