I made it!

Hello from Barcelona! I can't believe I am actually here. I feel like I spent so much time thinking about going abroad and now that I'm actually here it doesn't seem real. Perhaps that is the jetlag.

My journey began on Monday at 3:40 pm in Los Angeles. After a not too bad wait at the airport, I went through security and waited to board a pretty big freaking plane. I was in a window seat, out of the 3-4-3 seating arrangement. I sat next to a pleasant British grandmother and a man who never spoke. The seats were reallly cramped but each seat had a television, so we had individual entertainment. I started off with a little Shrek the Third to go along with my dinner of lasagna, banana cake, and red wine. They also served some odd salad-type thing, that looked like it had chicken and lima beans and garbanzos...didn't touch it. Then they turned off the lights, and I tried to sleep. I really did. I had my eyes closed with the mask on for at least 1.5 hours. But it was no use. So I decided to watch No Reservations (Catherine Zeta-Jones, Abigail Breslin). Then it was time for breakfast of yogurt and granola. All while I watched Fever Pitch. Now, if you are leaving Boston, a city you love, and you know you can't be there for awhile, DO NOT watch Fever Pitch. It was really cute but it made me miss Boston!

Especially when we landed in the rain at Heathrow. I was nervous about doing all the right things with baggage and customs, etc., and I was on no sleep. I went through security (which was actually more lenient than LAX, weird), and made it to Terminal 2 where my flight was flying out of. Well, I started walking toward what was on my ticket, 15A. Heathrow was like a shopping mall, and then all the gates were separated. No one was around but 4 British women security guards.

"May I help you?"
"Oh, I, um, thought I was told to go to gate 15A."
"No gates are open yet. Let me see your boarding pass....no that's just a seat number, not a gate. Go watch the TVs to see which gate is yours."
"Oh, ok, umm, thank you."

My first stupid American moment came before I even got to Spain. Good job.

I slept all the way to Barcelona, about one hour and forty-five minutes. Once I arrived I got both my bags, met someone else on my program, and we went up to our meeting place. We got checked in, got the keys to our houses, and some information about Orientation. Then I got into a cab and arrived at my apartment! I had some trouble getting in the front door, but I figured it out. The building is on a pretty busy intersection, across from a church and a HUGE Mercedes dealership. Go figure. It is about 7-8 stories tall, with a atrium in the center. There is an elevator in the middle of the staircase, but it is surrounded by a cage and you have to open and shut the doors. My apartment itself is huge! Wonderfully big and equipped kitchen, a washing machine, two bathrooms (only one has a shower), and then there are two double rooms and two single rooms. One single is for our RA, and then Christen is in the other single. Gabriela and Tina are in the other double, and Holly and I are sharing the other. There is SO much closet space and it is a good amount of space in general. We also have a big living room and dining room area, with a TV and DVD player. We're set!

After I unpacked my things, Holly, Tina and I went out to try to find the El Corte Ingles close to our apartment, but failed. I forgot three things: batteries for my clock, shampoo, and socks. So we went to the market and got some cereal and bread and stuff. Got the first two things but I'm still working on socks. I just had some peanut butter toast. I barely ate anything today so I'm a little woozy, but I think that might just be being extremely tired. Now we are watching American television dubbed in Spanish and typing away on our computers. I am trying as hard as I can to stay awake so that I will go to sleep at a reasonable hour and get on the schedule. If I make it until 10 I will be proud. Now some of my roommates and I are discussing how we are possibly going to wait until 10 every night to eat dinner.

Miss everyone :-)