So WE MADE IT! Really still soaking in that we’re on the other side of the Atlantic. Words probably don’t do justice to describe how displaced and time-thrown I feel. It feels like it’s at least 9 o’clock at night here while it’s only about 16:00 (as the locals – and the rest of the world – would write it). 

In the airport I met Katie, a girl from Madison who’s also on my program, so we stuck together for the trip over and met Briana when she came in too. Turns out Briana and I are in different hotels, so we split a taxi to our different locations and plan to meet up later.

The flights over weren’t bad at all. Matter of fact, the one to Madrid was pretty cool. I got chills when the pilot announced preparation for takeoff to the flight attendants. It was especially neat because there was a camera on the tail that showed us on the runway and then cruising over Chicago away from the sunset and (literally) into the night. 

We were fed typical airplane food on the flight there – rice and chicken or beef and a side of crab salad for dinner, which was actually pretty good, and ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. I opted out of the latter meal, as I don’t eat red meat – especially not pork (and no, ham is NOT white meat!! It’s still very much a mammal). I emphasize this point because I’m pretty sure a lot of people here won’t understand this. There are lots of unsuspecting foods here made with lard and other animal products – like “polvorones,” little cake-like tapas – which I’m not so keen on, so that’s something I’ll have to look out for. Anyways, the real reason for telling this story is because there was an Arab woman sitting across the aisle from me, and she didn’t want her sandwich either because it’s not halal (the Muslim equivalent of Kosher for Jews). So we bonded over that and I shared a granola bar with her instead 🙂

When we landed, all you could see was a black silhouette of the plane and tons of lights down below, it was beautiful. It was also neat because we landed just in time to see the sun rise, and the changing light in the huge airport, which had a high, arching and curving wood-beam ceilings and steel beams each painted the next hue of a color of the rainbow. Another really cool thing about the airport was the signs and directions to gates. We had to go from our arrival gate, through customs, and to K93 in about a half hour. Along the way, signs pointing the way to K  also had times for how long it would take from your current location to get to that, and other terminals. We started out with a sign that indicated we were 30 minutes away, so we made our way through without any putzing.

When we landed in Seville it was cold and overcast, and as soon as we got into the cab it started to rain, which continued through most of the afternoon. Not so nice, but made for a perfect jet-lag nap 🙂 The ride here was uneventful, but intriguing. The tall, old apartment buildings here remind me of those we saw in Chisenau, Moldova, where I went for a volunteer Spring break last year. I’m not sure how else to describe it, but it’s such an obviously European city, by it’s looks and lay-out. Oh and I was warned about this, but had to see it for myself to believe – Sevilla drivers are a little bit on the wild side. You’d think a cab driver would try not to totally freak a couple of twenty-something year old American girls upon their arrival to the country, but apparently that’s second to getting us to our destination way too fast.

Some other things I’ve noticed already were the use of commas to denote a change in units, as in the price of my room: €80,00. On a relevant note, I was lucky enough to get a discount on my room because Katie mentioned that she’d seen a promotion on line for mid-January reservations, so I asked about it and got €50 off!

The hotel is beautiful. The lobby is all shiny black and white marble, and everything down there is divided by big glass doors. All the doors in the rooms are big sliding sections of the walls, lights are motion and key-sensored (as is usually the case in nice European hotels, I’ve noticed), there are two showers (one for the tub), and a king size bed! I took a hot bath as soon as I got in because my muscles were so sore from schlepping my  bags around, and then passed out for about an hour and a half. Hopefully I’ll be able to go find something to eat soon, I want to go out and walk around all the little shops and cafés around here (:

Stay tuned, lots more to come!