¡Hola todos! I’m in Spain!
After packing, more packing, and
re-packing my bags, I finally zipped up my 2 suitcases, rolly duffle, and
backpack and headed to the Dayton International Airport at 11:30AM on August 18th. I was leaving 1 day early in order to recover
from jet-lag before orientation (which turned out to be a fantastic choice),
and was feeling a big jumble of emotions. I felt excited, nervous, sad, and ecstatic
all at once – excited for this new
adventure, nervous about, well, everything, sad to leave my family and friends,
and ecstatic to be fulfilling my dream of living in Spain.
I said some difficult goodbyes to my brother, sister-in-law,
and nieces before I left home, and finished up with more goodbyes for my parents
and sister at the airport. Then, a
thorough bag-inspection (during which they confiscated my confetti icing – it’s
apparently a “paste”), 2 flights, lots of waiting, 2 taxis, and 1 train ride
later, I arrived at my hotel in Sevilla, Spain.
My muscles were sore (I had some seriously heavy bags to
drag around airports and train stations and hoist up stairs and curbs and into
luggage compartments), I was exhausted and very glad to finally be at my hotel!
– A quick aside, I definitely wouldn’t have made it without my fantastic
train-travel buddy (also in the CIEE program) with whom I’d met up in the
Madrid airport. She was very kind to
help me with my over-packed luggage and I really appreciate it! Thanks Alayne!—alright,
important shout-out completed. So, at
the hotel, I met Allison, one of my roommates for the evening who’d already
checked in, and discovered that our other roommate, Amy, had gotten delayed in
Portugal and wouldn’t be joining us until much later. So, after Alayne dropped off her things in
her own room, the three of us went out for a bite to eat.
We found a place down the street from the hotel with delicious tapas,
sangria, and white wine and got our first taste of Spain. It was delicioso! After an enjoyable meal, we stopped off at the
corner heladería (ice cream parlor) and
headed, sleepily, back to the hotel.
Finally, it was bed
time. Alayne went back to her room and
Allison and I got to bed around 11:30PM.
Besides the minor hiccup around 1 or 1:30 AM to let Amy into the room
(she’d just arrived), we slept soundly.
It was a successful and tiring day and a lovely, relaxing evening! I’ve already met some wonderful people and
look forward to all the introductions to be had during orientation. For now, bed.
Hasta pronto,
Rachel
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