Ok, so I'm taking these first few entries straight out of my Spain Journal. Some of it might be old news to some of you guys, but I want everyone to be on the same page. Here we go...
Jan 20- 12:53pm Kansas time
We just departed Wichita for Atlanta. I was a mess saying good-bye to Dad, Mom, Joel, Lyss, and Kati. It was really hard. And to make matters worse, I forgot my PASSPORT AT HOME! Geeze, I'm stupid! Mike met Dad at 125th st, and Dad rushed it to the airport. Mom called Nana first, but we decided Mike better bring it because he's probably a faster driver (sorry Nana)! I met Dad outside, grabbed it, and hugged him good-bye. That was really hard. Then immediately after that I had to say short good-byes to everyone else and rush to my gate. I cried the whole way. I was the last one to board, and had a hard time finding an overhead compartment, which only made me worse. We've been in the air for 10-15 minutes so far, and I'm doing pretty good- as long as I don't think about it. The guy next to me brought a dog so we'll see how that goes. Shouldn't be too bad.
Now we'll move on to the hard part. I don't know if I can do this. I've never been more scared in my life. Everyone keeps telling me I'm so brave, but they don't know how terrified I am. What if I get lost? Can't get a taxi to Murcia? Can't find my apartment? What if my landlord is really mean? Who are my roommates, where are they from? Will I like them, will they like me? What happens I we don't get along? What do I do if they're BFFs and I'm all alone? What if they speak no english What happens when I get there- what do I do? How do I shop for food? Will I have internet? Will my bed be comfy? What if I can't understand Roberto when he talks during orientation? What are classes gonna be like? When do I enroll? When do classes even start? What happens when I don't understand my teachers? Will I fail? Will people make fun of me for knowing so little espanol? Will the other international students be better at Spanish than me? Am I gonna be the only bad one? Will I make any friends? I'd be so miserable without friends. I can't do thinks alone. I wish I had someone here with me- to go through this with me. But, I don't. I'm all alone and I hate it so much. I'm scared of the Atlanta airport. It's so huge compared to Wichita. I'm neverous about getting my bags and re-checking them. I hope they'll check it all the way to Murcia so I don't have to in London or Barcelona. I'm so worried about finding a cab in Murcia- I don't even know how to say my address, let alone find it. Hopefully they'll have taxi people there. When do I go through customs? How do I do that? I'm nervous about that because I probably won't understand what they tell me to do. Shoot!
Jan 20- 6:30pm Atlanta time
Ok, I'm on my way to London! I'm actually starting to get rather excited about all this. I'm still terrified to death about Spain, but we'll take things one step at a time. Atlanta airport was huge, but I just followed the signs and I was fine. I got to check 2 bags instead of 1, so that was nice. Now I only have my backpack and Coach bag. There's hardly anyone on the plane and I have a set of 3 seats to myself. That'll be nice for sleeping.
Just sent my last text to everyone before we departed. I never really realized that I literally won't have ANY contact with my friends or family for 176 days, except for Skype. It's a scary thought, and I don't like it. Like Brenton said, "A lot can happen in 6 months." Very scary.
Jan 21- 7:10am London time
Plane food= bueno. Didn't really sleep a whole lot on the plane- wasn't comfy. Slept a little, but I kept waking up. We arrived an hour early due to strong tail winds, which means 1 less hour of sleep. Got to London and went straight to Security. I met at girl studying in Barcelona. I'm sure we'll be on the same flight so maybe I'll see her later. London airport is a little overwhelming- it's HUGE. But it's fun to listen to them all talk. It'd be fun to have a British roommate. I tried to call home but it said there was no coverage. I'm a little worried about that. Guess I'll just have to find a payphone. I'm so exhausted, I just want to sleep.
1-21: 8:30pm Murcia time
Ugh! Hate it hate it hate it! Had a breakdown in Barcelona, skyped Mom, Dad, and Joel for 20 minutes before my prepaid minutes were up. Tiny plane to Murcia- we had to board the plane by climbing up the steps. I've never done that before. Got to Murcia with no problems... until I went to get my bags. My blue duffle was there, but my big black bag with EVERYTHING in it was NOWHERE to be found! I had to go to the Iberia counter and wait for 20 minutes before someone came to help. Well, he was NO help. He said he didn't know how long it would be before they got my bag, or even if they would at all. I gave him the address of my apartment and Isabel's phone number (Isabel is my landlady). He gave me a number to call tomorrow at 5pm... I don't know if I can wait that long. Also, he said I'd have to come back to pick it up. Then I go to hail a taxi. Well, I don't know what the heck I'm doing so I just stand there for 20 minutes before I finally ask a security lady. She takes me to a group of men and I give one of them the address. None of them knows where it is so they all have to GPS is and talk about it. Finally, we're ogg. It took probably about 45 minutes or so. I tried to sleep, but it was weird so I couldn't. We pulled up and he said "Aqui." and I had no idea where "here" was. Then my landlady came out and started talking all Spanish. She knows NO english- ahhh crap! She takes me up to my apartment, opens my room door, and- there's someone's stuff! A boy. She freaks out in Spanish while I just awkwardly stand there. I had no idea what was going on. She calls Borja (the accomodations guy) but he doesn't answer. She checks the apartment, but no one is home. She tells me to leave my stuff and we walk to the University to talk to Borja. she grabs onto my arm and cries the whole time. I didn't know what to do. A little Spanish lady crying and apologizing in Spanish- talk about awkward! We talk to Borja, and he calls one of the other tenants, and American girl named Mari, but she goes by Heather. He kinda yells at her, but then he hangs up. Apparently they were letting a friend stay in my room until he could find his own apartment. He apologizes and says he needs some private time to talk about the situation and tells me to go to the Cantina on campus with Isabel. We go, and we sit, and sit, and sit. She tries to make small talk, which it was literally small because I couldn't understand her! haha. Anyway, she asked if I was content with Obama, and I said Si. That was about the extent of our small talk. We sit some more. I start to fall asleep in my hands so I lay my head down on the table. She gives me her coat as a pillow and I passed out. Borja took waaaay over an hour- probably almost 2 hours. He finally showed up and said the University would pay for my nights stay in a hotel. I was grateful for a place to be by myself while I freaked out. we walk back to the apartment to get my bags and my 2 roommates answer the door. Borja kinda yells at them and tells them I'm going to a hotel for the night, but the boy (Yanik, he's from Belguim I think) convinces me to stay and says they'll have it clean in less than an hour. So I end up staying. I would have liked a hotel room, but oh well. My roomies are very nice and explained what was going on. Aaron, an American, is studying in Murcia for a year, and was just looking for a new place to live so they let him crash here for a week. He's still sleeping on the couch. No big deal. They're all nice. But, they also told me this place is a dump and is way overpriced, and that Isabel is not a very nice lady. She seemed so sweet. They told me to look into getting a new place asap. I don' know what to do. I'll talk to Borja tomorrow I guess. Also, my roomies were both here for first semester, so they'll be leaving soon and I'll be getting new ones, and who know if they'll even be students! I'm reallllly tired so I'm gonna try to go to sleep in this God-forsaken place.
Jan 22- 9:09 am
{So I'm just now realizing that I don't need to type out my journal word for word. I'll start paraphrasing now. Congratulations if you've actually made it this far through all my rants!}
The bed is NOT comfortable. I feel like I'm in a prison cell- it's gonna be a long 176 days. I want to go home. I'm off to the market.
11:15pm
Ok, so I had hopes that today would be better- it wasn't. I went to the market with Heather. It was huge and kind of overwhelming, but definitely somewhere I'd like to go again when I'm better with my Spanish. It's every Thursday morning. There were people everywhere! It was so crazy! If they bump into you, they don't say sorry or even look up. They had absolutely everything there! Fish, fresh fruits and veggies, clothes, purses, scarves, shows, meat- seriously everything! And it was all very inexpensive! I'm talking jeans for 6 euro and shoes for 10 euro. That's my kind of place! However, Heather left me at the market because she had to meet a professor! I'm not good with directions, so I knew I was going to get lost trying to get back to my apartment. Yep, sure did. I walked around the city of Murcia for at least 2 hours. That sucked. I started bawling, so I'm sure I looked like a crazy person. Finally, I found it and cried tears of relief! I got home, and finally got to talk to my parents. I miss them. Then I slept for a good 4 hours. After I woke up, Isabel came with my luggage!!! Thank goodness! She wanted me to pay a deposit, but I refused until I talked to Borja. She got mad and kept saying, "bueno por nada, bueno for nada." That means "good for nothing." Guess she is a mean woman!
I skyped a lot of people and chatted with friends online for a long time today. It helped to hear from them. I'm so lucky to have so many wonderful, caring people in my life. Being in a situation like this has made me realize that I am so darn lucky! I couldn't have been dealt a better family, and when it comes to friends, I hit the jackpot. I should thank God more for all that He has blessed me with. So many people are praying for me, so I think God will listen and find a way to comfort me while I'm over here.
Jan 23- 2:45am
Today was sooo much better! I actually have hope now that I'll be able to do this. There's still a lot of adjusting to do, but now I know I can make it. I met 4 really nice girls at orientation, and we hung out all day and shopped at the mall. I got some sheets and rugs and stuff to make my room a little more homey. I also bought a European phone so I can call my new friends :) Dude, the alcohol in this supermarket was insane! Wine, beer, hard liquor- everywhere! Huge aisles of it. It was so surreal, I've never seen so much alcohol in my life.
It was really nice hanging out with those girls. I think we're gonna be pretty good friends. We made a goal to speak only Spanish to each other really soon so we can practice! Today made me hopeful for a good experience in Murcia. We had Pizza Hut tonight for dinner. I know what you're thinking- "You're in SPAIN and you eat PIZZA HUT?!" Well, we were all homesick so we just wanted a little America in our mouths! haha
Jan 24- 4:20am
Today we shopped some more, then Brittany and I both paid Isabel our deposit because she's her landlady too. I apologized for the other day, and got back on her good side. The 5 of us made spaghetti at Brittany's new apartment and drank some wine, then went to a club called Badulake. I had my first legal shot- it was something pineapple. It was exciting! :) These Spainards are crazy and stay out til 7 in the morning. Not me! I got tired and was home by 3am. It was fun going out with those girls, but they'll never be my friends back home. Tonight actually made me miss everyone a lot. I can't wait to see everyone again and have a drink as a 21 year old when I get back!
Jam 25- 11:22pm
Finally we're up to date! The intensive langauge course starts tomorrow, and that is 3 hours a day for 2 weeks. Then we have one week off and then school starts. We decided we're going to travel in Spain over that one week. Maybe hit up Barcelona or something, I don't know. I'll post pictures as soon as I take some more. I might post the ones that I have if I have time later. So, no worries everyone. I can do this. It's gonna be hard, but I can make it. Only 171 more days, and I'm home! It'll be here before you know it... at least I hope! :) I love you all dearly.
That's about the longest blog entry I've ever seen in my life, and I give you props for making it to the end. The next ones won't be as long, I promise!
This is a Weed Shop. I kid you not. We saw the bongs so we stepped inside. There was potting soil and stuff to grow weed everywhere. The aroma of weed filled the air, so we darted out of there!
This is the view from Brittany's balcony. Check out how close we are to the mountains!
Excuse the pole, but this is another view of the mountains and the pavilion. When it gets warmer sometimes there is live music and dancing. We already have front row seats from Brittany's balcony!
Some buildings up in the mountains. Again from Brittany's balcony.
This is the bridge that's about a 30 second walk from my apt. El Rio (the river) is really beautiful.
This is La Plaza de Toros, otherwise known as a bull ring. There will be bullfights here, and it's right across the street from Kara's apt, and about 7 minutes from mine.
Again, La Plaza de Toros
Look! They have my favorite Disney movie in Spanish! Score!
