Hola!
I feel like we’ve been going nonstop since I woke up for this trip. The day we left (May 2), I woke up at 6:00am to be on the road by 7:00am. I had a six hour car ride to get through in order to meet up with everyone at the Pittsburgh airport. My parents and I grabbed lunch before they dropped me off and headed back home. They had to now complete another six hour car ride to get home.
Our connecting flight was in Philly, which is only about two/three hours away from where I live. It sucks that I had to drive so far only to get so close, but I understand the importance of sticking together in such a big group.
I can easily say that I’m still not a fan of planes, but I made it. This was only my second time flying, the first being a quick two hour trip to Philly from Pittsburgh. The food wasn’t that great, but the plane felt a little fancy with the lights and the remote control for the TV. The kids crying through the whole ride didn’t ease my anxiety, but I couldn’t blame them honestly. Customs felt like forever and it was hot and stuffy. Once we got to the apartments, all I wanted to do was take a nap but we were told we weren’t allowed to do that. So instead I kept busy until it was late enough for me to finally pass out.
The first thing we all did was unpack, and when we were done unpacking, those of us in the apartment decided to get some food. The others found a pizza place nearby, so the first meal I had in Spain was pizza. Not exactly what I was planning, but I was too tired and hungry to care.
After dinner is when things started to get interesting. Because we had orientation the next day, we (Arianna, Baylee, Tia, Erin, and I) decided to look for the CEA building. With the lack of signs, we found the general area but didn’t know what building or how to get in. We figured that we would run into someone tomorrow morning and be able to figure it out.
So after looking for CEA, we thought it would be fun to explore for a bit. “A bit” turned into a couple hours. We stopped in a bunch of stores looking around, turning down interesting looking side streets, witnessed a fight, and ended up twisted every which way and lost for a good two hours. We witnessed a fight, found a super cute crystal shop, and a few small secondhand stores. Erin was the navigator, using google maps to try and get us back but it wasn’t very successful. We kept turning down the wrong streets, crossing the road at the wrong places. We took a quick minute stop at a small pizza shop Arianna and Tia found and wanted to try.
Near the end of our “adventure”, I finally found a coffee shop because I refused to go to Starbucks. That coffee was so good, and I drank it so quickly. I love the coffee here, it’s so rich and strong. Some of the coffee I’ve had has been so bitter, but once I add some sugar it’s amazing.
Eventually, finally, luckily, Baylee’s phone gave us directions that didn’t get us turned around and we made it back to the apartment. We decided on a quick and easy dinner; something close by because of the long day – Popeye’s. (Don’t judge… I know you want to). And the last thing we did was go food shopping at Aldi. Nothing major; eggs, bacon, ham, bread, fruit, yogurt, honey, etc. Easily made breakfast in the morning for when we wake up.
We all decided to get some sleep pretty early tonight because of jet lag (or as my dad calls it; time travel).
