I’m here!!!! Okay, maybe that’s a little bit delayed, but this has been one of the most busy weeks of my life! I don’t even know where to start.

When I left the United States was definitely more nervous than excited for Spain. I was going to a country where I barely knew the language, and studying outside the biggest city in the country. Above all I was worried about communicating with my host family, and making sure I didn’t offend them on any level. In this past week all those worries have been resolved, well at least most of them.

The flight over was altogether good; but unfortunately I didn’t get any sleep on the flight. By the time I got to Spain I was pretty much running on empty. Luckily I met some girls who were also studying in the area, and we all sat together and chatted about our expectations and excitement for the semester ahead. I met my CIEE program in the airport after a few hours and then we took a bus to our hotel in Alcala.

In orientation we learned about the expectations of our program, our home-stay and the university itself. We were required to only speak Spanish, which for most of us was incredibly difficult. I have a very basic vocabulary in Spanish, so most of our conversations included exaggerated gestures and emotions so that we could understand each other. Spanglish would probably be a more proper term for what we spoke. My program only has 11 people, so we all got to know each other pretty well in the first few days.

On the last morning of Orientation, we all dragged ourselves our of bed and packed up so that we could leave with our host-families. I think my excitement about meeting my host-family helped me past jet lag. I met my host mom Ana in the lobby, and she immediately set me at ease. I could tell already that we would get along perfectly.

Ana and I went home, and it’s way more than I could have asked for. I was expecting a small room, no heat and a bathroom that I would share with the family. Much to my surprise, Ana took me to my room, or more appropriately floor. I have the whole top floor to myself with a bathroom, and a terrace! Definitely makes the dorms at PSU look pretty shabby!

Well I don’t want to write the longest blog entry ever, but in the next few days I’ll write more about Alcala and Madrid!

Oh and one last thing; one of the weirdest coincidences I’ve seen! Looks like wherever I go, Penn State follows me; even on the plane to Madrid :).

Location: Alcala de Henares, Spain