Getting there

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My trip started with a car ride to Charlotte, NC with my mom. Then, once I got checked in and found out that my two bags, which felt incredibly heavy, were only 33 and 39 lbs, I got my ticket. After I went through security, I had an hour to kill before my flight was boarding so I paid way too much for lunch, read some of my book, and updated facebook.

When I walked onto the plane the first thing I noticed was how small it was. My head touched the ceiling whenever I walked down the aisle. There were only three rows of seats, 18 seats in each row, one on the left and two on the right. I was sitting on the left so I had both a window and an aisle seat. The flight to Miami wasn’t too bad, it only lasted two hours and everyone on the plane was basically silent the whole trip.

When I arrived in Miami, I realized I had forgotten how big the Miami airport is. I had to walk to the other end of the airport and then take a skytrain to go to baggage claim because I thought I had to recheck my bags. After waiting for 20 minutes, I was informed that I didn’t need to be at the baggage claim cause my bags were transferred directly to the plane for me. Seems like common sense but a conversation I had had earlier with my mom confused me and so I thought I needed to recheck my bags. After that I had to walk some more to find my terminal and once I had gotten a small snack I sat down and waited about an hour for them to start boarding the plane.

The flight going to Madrid was huge. There were 7 rows of seats and 40 seats in each row, and most all of them were filled. They did not play any movies on the tvs but instead had random NBC shows playing for about half the flight. I felt like I was eating and drinking the whole time I was on the plane. We got a bag of pretzels and a drink within the first hour. Then about an hour and a half later, the flight attendants came back around and started passing out dinner and another drink. After I ate a pretty good dinner of beef, mashed potatoes, salad, bread, and a really good blondie, I read my book until the lights on the plane were turned off. Then I tried to find a comfortable position to sleep in, which was easier said then done. I don't know who designed planes but clearly they were not meant for a tall person or someone with long legs and didn't consider that people were going to be trying to sleep on an 8 hour flight with their knees scrunched up. On top of that the passenger in front of me had the most obnoxious snore I have ever heard. Some of the other passengers thought it was funny, but I was just irritated. Finally someone poked him and he was silent the rest of the trip. When we woke up the flight attendants were ready for us with a breakfast of yogurt, a croissant, and another drink. Then I read for the rest of the flight.

Once we landed in Madrid, the first thing I noticed was how beautiful the sun looked. To those of you who have never seen it, that may sound weird, but it is seriously one of the prettiest things I have ever seen. Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture of it cause I was in an aisle seat. Once we all filled out of the plane, we moved in a mass of people to go through customs and baggage claim. It only took ten minutes for my bags to come on the conveyor belt, and from there I went to find a taxi.

Once in the taxi, the driver asked where I was going. I told him the address and he asked me at least 5 times if I was sure. Then he asked me questions about why I was there, etc and he just being friendly. At that point, I had only had 7 hours of sleep in the last 2 days, and I was so nervous something would go wrong, I was almost sick to my stomach, so my understanding of this man was limited. After a while, he stopped talking and the only noise in the car was the GPS. Even though we got lost once, it only took about 30 minutes from the airport.

Once I got to the apartment I realized I didn't have a way to get in touch with Lidia, my roommate. I pushed the call button for our apartment number, 4B, and a random Spanish lady answered and told me there was no Lidia Awad there. Well that was not how I was expecting to be greeted. I pulled out my computer hoping there would be WiFi and got on facebook and told Lidia to come let me in. It was so great to see a familiar face and talk to someone other than the plane flight attendants and airport workers.

I know that last thing you are supposed to do when we change time zones is go to sleep but at that point I didn't care. After I caught up with Lidia, I slept from about noon until five. I set an alarm so I wouldn't sleep too long but forgot to turn it on. After that long nap, Lidia and I went walking around the streets around our apartment to see what was there. At that point, I hadn't eaten since 7 that morning and it was 7 pm so I was hungry. We stopped at a little restaurant and I ordered a ham sandwich and a coke. Well this was no Oscar Mayer ham thats for sure. The leg of the pig was hanging from the ceiling and the guy that worked there cut if right of in front of us. It wasn't bad though, just a little dry. Then we went to the supermercado to get some groceries and came back to the apartment.

When we came back we caught up with everyone on Facebook and Skype. We are going to orientation tomorrow at the university and hopefully we can make it there without getting lost.

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Photos

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Plane from Charlotte to Miami

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My bed and desk

Photo 3
The shelves in my room

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The bathroom that I share with Lidia

Photo 6
Shower

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Kitchen: stove

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Kitchen: sink and refrigerator

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Our living room