Día Uno.

I finally made it to Spain! It has been such a long day of traveling and stress. So here´s my flight story: I got to the airport in Minneapolis only to find out my flight to Philadelphia had been delayed by an hour and a half. The woman who was checking me in told me she was switching me from the US airways flight to a Delta flight to New York. I had planned to fly with two other girls from my program but the Philadelphia delay caused us all to end up on three different flights going to three different places. When I found out I had to travel alone, I was instantly terrified. My new flight now did not leave until two hours later than the original flight and the new estimated arrival time to Madrid was cutting it pretty close to the time I needed to catch the University bus to Valladolid. However, after venturing through security, I found not only my gate, but also two girls from my program going to Spain. Finding new travel companions was such a relief. When the time came, we boarded the plane to New York. A couple hours passed and we soon were in the city, very late. They had us sit in the plane while another plane was being de-iced. We waited, and waited and waited. Soon enough there was fifteen minutes to get to the gate for the connecting flight, which was in another terminal much too far away. Once we got off the plane we sprinted to the shuttle gate but arrived too late. We had missed the last shuttle. The flight was refusing to wait for us and the next flight to Madrid was not until the next morning. We were all ready to stay the night in the airport but after much persuasion, a manager got a special shuttle for the six of us from this flight. When we finally got to the gate we were welcomed by shouting and guilt trips. "Come on, come on, let´s go! We´ve been waiting for you!" So we rushed onto the plane, found our seats... and didn´t leave the ground for another hour and a half. So much running, stressing and worrying over nothing. They needed to de-ice the plane. Finally we took off, but since we left late, we also arrived late; once again scared we would miss our next connection to the bus. After making it through customs, we went to baggage claim. We waited, and waited and waited for our luggage to show up. With every new piece of unrecognizable luggage that came out, stress levels increased. Finally our luggage showed up, the last luggage to come out. So we got our luggage and made it to the bus, which was delayed by an hour and a half. But after everything, finally, FINALLY we made it to Valladolid.

When we arrived at our stop in Valladolid, all the host families were waiting. My roommate, Kelly, and I have a host mom named Dioni and a host dad. Our host dad hasn´t really talked much to us; he is deaf in one ear and kind of just does his own thing. But Dioni has not gone a second without talking. She´s just been talking our ears off the entire time we´ve been here, telling the most random stories, most of which we can´t understand. It´s very hard to keep up with her. She talks faster than the average Spaniards, it seems, and trying to understand so much Spanish for so long gets extremely tiring. She seems very strict and protective, but at least she cares. I also have my own room, which was unexpected. We´re living in a ninth-floor apartment in the heart of the city, close to the University.

Some other random things I´ve noticed that were not quite expected:

• People are CRAZY drivers here. I´m afraid to cross the street because I think someone might hit me, and the concept of lanes doesn´t really mean much to them. Also, virtually all the cars are stick-shift and I have yet to see an SUV. Most cars are very small here because the gas is so pricey. And, all the road signs are completely different (so that wasn´t so much unexpected, just weird to see).
• There is graffiti EVERYWHERE. Driving from Madrid to Valladolid, graffiti lined every inch of the highway the entire way. It´s also incredibly beautiful outside the city here. The houses and buildings are so different and there are huge hills and valleys everywhere.
• Walking around at night in the city feels very safe. We walked around at night with Dioni checking out the city and looking for internet and I never felt unsafe, even when Kelly and I walked around by ourselves. Everyone is just really nice and genuine and willing to help when you´re lost.
• All the doorknobs in my apartment building are in the middle of the door, not the left or right side. And the elevators are extremely tiny.
• They speak a lot of Spanish here...