Arrival

         So, I've made it. What a crazy journey that was. It started in Green Bay, where mostly I packed stuff last minute and tried not to freak out too much. This is the my first time leaving the country, and I went alone. I'll be gone for four months. Four months. It all circled around in my head and I started to second guess myself a bit. Was I really ready for this? It still didn't seem real, leaving for Spain. Even so, I went to the airport with my parents, said a teary goodbye and flew off to Chicago.

     When I was in Chicago, it hit me a little bit more, things got a little more real, but I was starting to get used to it. I felt a little left out because everyone else was on their phone doing something and my phone was refusing to get on the wifi. But I could still text my family so it was fine. Mostly, I just tried not to think about what might happen at my next stop: Dusseldorf, Germany. I didn't know how intense the customs might be, I was hoping it would be an easy transition. I spent most of the flight trying to sleep, though every time I would get comfortable enough, something would wake me up- my foot was falling asleep, my wrist hurt, my neck was at an odd angle, etc. I did manage to get about three hours of sleep in before the plane landed in foggy Dusseldorf. Lucky me, we landed about 30 minutes early, so I had more than enough time to figure out my next step. It was a little confusing trying to figure out where I was supposed to go, but once I got there it wasn't too bad. The customs I had been fretting about turned out to be just handing my passport to the security guard to be stamped, just like in the movies. Up until this point, my trip hadn't had any major glitches, which was probably a record for me.
         But then came the delay. Since it was so foggy on the ground in Dusseldorf, my flight was delayed in leaving (this offered me an ample amount of time to sleep, which I took immediate advantage of). I only had an hour between my flight from Dusseldorf to Madrid and my flight from Madrid to Alicante, so I knew at the very least, it was going to be a tight squeeze. When we landed in Madrid, it was 10 minutes past the boarding time for my plane to Alicante, so there was no way I would make the flight. However, the people from the Dusseldorf flight were very helpful and directed me right to the help desk to get the next flight. This was fine and dandy until they told me the next flight was at 5 pm. About 5 full hours from the time that I had landed. Hooray! I knew it was the best that they could do and I was just appreciative that they had been so accommodating. They even gave me a voucher for lunch! While I was not too pleased to be stuck in Madrid for so long, I can't complain about the airport itself. It was beautiful. I don't know if I've ever been in a building as large as that airport. The support beams holding up the ceiling were painted in the shades of the rainbow running all the way down the building. The ceiling itself looked like it was made of wood and it undulated creating a beautiful wave effect as shown in the picture above. There were stores everywhere and giant screens that advertised all that the airport and Spain had to offer. I definitely could have been worse off.
       By the time I got onto the plane headed for Alicante, I probably could've fallen asleep standing up. I had done so much flying and sitting and waiting, I didn't have very much energy left. I slept most of the flight to
Alicante (but not all of it, the picture to the left is proof!), trying to get enough energy to actually be a nice guest for my host family when I got to Alicante. In the end, I arrived in one piece, no worse for wear, if a little exhausted. I know I'll be posting more in the next few days, there's so much to tell! Alicante is beautiful and Wednesday and Thursday will be orientation days for me so I'll be learning more and more each day. I just don't want to cram it all into one blog, that would get long and boring. What's to come: my host family and apartment, Alicante fun, and school. Stay tuned.

 Here are some pictures of how my suitcase looked when I did a test pack 

(the end product was not this clean, but it was still under the weight limit, so yay!)

A teaser of the view from where I live :)