Day 0

I'm sitting in the Detroit Metro Airport right now, waiting for my flight to board (which will happen in approximately one hour and fifteen minutes). This plane will take me to Newark, where I must haul ass across the airport and through international security to make my connecting flight. I'm told my suitcase will bypass Newark and go straight on through to Madrid, which would mean I wouldn't have to find it at baggage claim and check in all over again, which would save me quite a bit of time. Hopefully they're telling me the truth.

From Newark, I fly to Madrid. If I can sleep on the plane, I sleep on the plane. Assuming everything goes smoothly, I get in at 9:30 am local time (3:30 am our time... yuck) and sit around for an hour or so—find a calling card, find an ATM, find some coffee—until my ride shows up at eleven. The CIEE people (the Council on International Educational Exchange—the program I'm studying through) will be rounding up students from various flights between eleven and "thirteen-thirty." Then they take us to a hotel in Alcalá de Henares, home of the Universidad de Alcalá. They hold orientation at the hotel and I find out some important information, like maybe where I'm living.

I managed to get everything into one huge suitcase, one small rolling backpack (that I had stashed in my closet from after seventh grade when it stopped being cool to have a rolling backpack), and one real backpack (for your back). I hope I didn't forget anything. I don't think I did. I checked my master list like nine times.

I'll be in Alcalá all semester. Depending on my class schedule (which I should get at orientation...?), I'll be returning in either early May or late June, with a bigger and better vocabulary and a really cool experience behind me. Check back for updates. I'll try to post often. ¡Hasta luego! :)