Barcelona!!!
Finally made it! I'm all settled into my room, my roommate is nice. And as I sit here, waiting and wondering if Brianne is going to come because I have absolutely no way of getting in touch with her, I start to cry. Which is really silly and I know that, yet I sit here and cry anyway. Because all of a sudden it is so very real that I am alone in a foreign country. I have no way of getting in touch with Brianne because there are no cell phones and I don't know if she has wifi or not... I realize that despite my best efforts, I am terrified of anything unfamiliar. I am so very alone and lost.
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I now realize, about six hours later, that my crying was a combination of stress, heat, exhaustion and panic. In my defense, I haven't slept in about thirty hours, took two flights and traipsed all over an enormous city today. I'm not proud of that meltdown and may have been a tad melodramatic. Here is the adventure of "today" in its entirety:
Boarded flight from Logan to Madrid. My luggage ended up being twenty-five kg instead of the twenty-three it was supposed to be, but the girl let it slide. The flight itself was relatively painless, but around hour number five we started to get antsy. I couldn't sleep because there was a movie on about saving whales. I dozed on and off for about an hour and gave up.
Disembarked at Madrid at 6:30 a.m.
Went through customs like a breeze, and annoyingly was forced to go through security again. That was after three elevators, a long tram ride and two escalators.
We finally made it to the gate in time to rearrange our things and board another plane. This plane was A LOT smaller. Like knees in your chest cavity tight. That flight was delayed because there was a protest going on in Barcelona.
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| Buenos días, Madrid. Era temprano en la mañana. |
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| Madrid Airport Gate 54 |
Landed in Barcelona and had to go all the way around to the other side of the airport to get our luggage. I should also mention that I had two huge carry-ons that I had been lugging around for many hours. We hung out at a cafe and waited for the program people to pick us up.
After about twenty-five minutes, we realized they had been sitting about three tables away the entire time. They handed us each a map, money for a taxi and sent us on our way.
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| First order in Español in España. We know you're impressed :) |
When I got to my apartment building, there was no one in sight, the door was locked and I didn't have a key or a passcode. Una problema. I stalled for a while, trying to figure out my next move when a group of students came around the corner. They all had keys and the leader had left my keys in the office because she assumed that I was not coming. I went with her, got my keys, moved in and that is where our story began!
After that, I laid down and closed my eyes, but didn't sleep. I waited, wondering if Brianne was coming or not. She finally came with one of her two roommates and we got dinner. We went to orientation; making a group of jet-lagged college students sit through a two and half hour powerpoint is not the best idea. We then took the metro to Las Ramblas, wandered around for a bit so we would know where to meet tomorrow morning.
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| These aren't even of Las Ramblas, they're of the area around Las Ramblas ironically. |
Then the group split up after helado. Brianne, her roommate Marissa and I walked all the way up Las Ramblas (about one and a half kilometers) to their house and then I walked six blocks to my apartment.
Tonight while my roommate is out at a bar or something, I will be taking a shower, swallowing a lot of ibuprofen, skyping my family and passing out. Tomorrow I have to do an oral placement exam to make sure I'm in the correct Spanish class at 9:30 in the morning. Then we are going on a hike (which they have assured us is just a walk) in Collserola and having a traditional Catalan meal. And I just remembered I forgot to pack my sneakers. Crap.
But I'm here, whether I like it or not. So I might as well make the best of it...
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