I'm going to try to fit everything that has happened the past couple of days into one pretty long post. So, sorry for the length, but I wanted to get everything down before I forget it all. :)
The flight from RDU to Chicago was on the world's TINIEST plane. It was like a toy plane---there were two seats, an aisle and then one seat. Even though it was my first time flying, I didn't take any medicine or anything and I was perfectly fine. It was a fairly short flight but we had a hilarious flight attendant who asked where we were going and when we told him he went on a 10 minute speech about how awesome Sevilla is. He was so excited for us and couldn't stop telling us all the wonderful stuff to do while we were here.
When we landed in Chicago we had one hour until our next flight left. We literally had to go from one side of O'Hare allllllllllll the way to the opposite side of the airport. We waited in a really long line to get our boarding passes and then had a few minutes to eat and just relax. Then we boarded a really huge plane (two seats, aisle, three seats, aisle, two seats). I got really lucky and had an empty seat beside me so I was able to stretch out--too bad I still didn't get to sleep much. It was a long flight (7.5 hours) so we were super excited to be able to get off the plane and stretch our legs.
But then things got interesting! Once we landed in Madrid we had to go through customs. It was a really long line, but it moved really quickly and we figured we would have plenty of time to get to our next flight which left in an hour. Then we got to security. It was a reallllllllly long line with tons of people and we looked on the screen and saw our flight -- "LAST CALL." Obviously we got really stressed and worried since we didn't want to miss our flight. We started passing people in line (I know, I know, I felt horrible but it had to be done) and somehow FLEW our way through security. We literally had everything flying everywhere as we took out our liquids, electronics, etc. I don't know how we kept up with it all, but somehow we did. After we got through security it was about 8:35 -- our flight was scheduled to leave at 8:45 -- and we were still a good 10 minute walk away from our gate. So we picked up all the stuff we had and literally BOOKED it to the gate. I know we looked crazy running through the airport like that, but we made it to our gate at 8:35. The flight attendant says, "You're late." And we are all like "DUH!" but honestly we couldn't help it because we rushed to get there in the first place. Oh well, we made it to the plane, hurried to our seats and plopped down---completely exhausted.
Once we got to Seville we had to of course wait for our checked luggage. And then, we had to find our way to the hotel. We got on the bus because it was cheaper than taking a taxi. But I don't think we fully realized that we would be dragging our large amount of luggage on the bus with us. It was quite the ordeal. Then we got off a stop too early so we figured we could just walk to the hotel. We quickly realized that in the blazing heat of the day with all of our luggage, that it would be near impossible to do so. It was at least 8 blocks to our hotel and with us dragging all of our luggage, we were clearly struggling. I'm sure we looked like quite the site pulling all of our luggage behind us in the heat of the day looking quite lost. So we decided to hail a taxi that took us directly to the hotel. Best. investment. ever. It may have been more expensive, but next time I'll definitely be taking a taxi just for the convenience.
When we got to the hotel, we checked in and got our room assignments/roommates for the program. We got to put our stuff in our room and then had to head to the lobby to go over some information. We got a packet to read and just some general information. Then we took showers and NAPS!! I know you're supposed to stay up, but I was just exhausted. I laid down for a couple of hours.
At 8pm we had a short meeting and then headed to dinner together. We went to a really cute restaurant and had a nice supper. We had a salad with tuna on it, then grilled chicken with a side of assorted cooked vegetables (that were FANTASTIC!), and for dessert I had raspberry ice cream. It was really nice to all sit down and talk to one another.
We have to be up at 8:45 in the morning to get breakfast and be back in our rooms packed and ready to go at 10. We are going to meet our host family then and move our stuff into their apartments. We have a meeting later tomorrow at 5pm so we have a little bit of free time to get settled during the day.
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