Well,
I’m here. Can’t believe it’s only been 2 days since I left home. I’m having a
great time! But all the traveling made yesterday a lonnngggg day (technically 2
days) before I finally slept. I feel pretty good though, just a little sleepy
today. So much has happened in the past few days. It feels a little surreal.
I’ll try to go through a few of the significant things that happened.
Once
we landed in Madrid and I stepped foot off the plane, I was a little
culture-shocked. Everything was in Spanish and I was completely alone. I looked
at the up-to-date gate signs, but didn’t see my flight so I asked a man and he
responded in English, which was nice. I continued to go where he said, but got
very lost. This airport was HUGE! I had a lot of difficulty finding where I
needed to go, and a nice man (not a worker) must have noticed how nervous I was
because he asked to see my ticket and told me it was ok. I went through
security and accidentally forgot to empty my water bottle (ha!), but the worker
just emptied it for me, which was nice. Once I got past security things got
easier and Emily found me about 15 minutes later. I was very glad to be with
Americans, and I met several other members of our group.
I
fell asleep on the short flight into Alicante (45 minutes) and took the bus
with the group to La Plaza de Los Luceros, which is the center of the city.
Emily and I met our “mom,” Eva, there and walked to her apartment… which is
beautiful! And MUCH bigger than I expected! It’s an old building but is very
modern. She made us a salad and pasta meal, which was delicious. She mostly
speaks Spanish, and I’ve had some difficulty communicating with her L But that is to be
expected and I am already getting more comfortable and learning. Plus, Emily is
amazing and helps translate when I don’t understand. J I’ve learned that I can
understand much more Spanish than I can easily respond to, so I’m excited to
start classes tomorrow and get into the swing of speaking.
We
went to a bar with our group last night and sat outside in this alley in the
old barrio of Alicante. So many people were there to watch the futbol game
between Spain and Italy… they won the European Cup! It was so lively; the
cheering and fireworks did not stop until very late.
Orientation
was this morning, and then later went on a tour around the city. Everyone in
the group is very nice and I’m having fun! Will write again tomorrow.
Dos besos,
SarahBee
