Arriving in Spain

After packing a huge red suitcase and then a stuffed hiking backpack in addition to my carry-on school backpack, I was ready to leave my home in Roanoke, Virginia for the next six months. First I flew out of Roanoke although I still cannot believe that Roanoke was the cheapest airport compared to international airports. The only down side was the incredibly tiny plane, and then the 5 hour layover in Washington, DC.

Little airplane leaving Roanoke

In Washington, DC I was able to just sit back and relax since I had an entire 5 hours to kill, so I converted money (BAD idea because the airport definitely overcharges conversion fees, but in order to do it at a bank in Roanoke, you need to tell them about it a few days ahead of time so that they have Euros on hand, so plan ahead!). Then I was able to watch a movie from Spain on netflix with hopes of getting into the Spanish mindset. Then I boarded the 8 hour long travel to Frankfurt, Germany on a HUGE Boeing 777 aircraft. I sat next to a woman from Cairo, Egypt and she got VERY passionate talking about the current riots in Cairo, that she takes part in right down her street.

Boeing 777

The few hours I spent in the Frankfurt airport were interesting, because that airport is ENORMOUS. I probably walked two miles from where I got off the previous plane to where the other plane would depart; all inside the airport. Absolutely everything was in English, and apparently Germans are most likely to know English than and other country in Europe (aside from England etc, of course). While I was arriving in Frankfurt, a German woman offered to take to where I needed to go, but I told her I would be alright. Incredibly nice gesture, however. Entering the Roanoke security to leaving the plane in Madrid was around 25 hours elapsed time, and I couldn't sleep much going over the ocean (airplanes are only so comfortable), but I did manage to snag 2 hours of sleep out of Germany because Lufthansa flights are VERY nice in my opinion, at least in compared to my previous two flights with United Airlines.

When my plane arrived in Madrid, all was surreal (partly because I had slept very little). The couple sitting next to me on the plane offered to show me where to go and so they helped me to get my luggage (Thank god it all came through!) and then they helped me to find the terminal that API (my program) was going to meet me. Their mother, who was also flying with them, told me that my Spanish was pretty good, which I liked and I learned that "español" is what most people call the language that they speak in Latin America, while "castellano" is sort of the purer of the languages and is what they speak in Spain. This woman lives in Madrid, and so she gave me her phone number and name and told me to call her if I needed anything. I had JUST met this woman! It turned out that several other girls on my flight were with API (some for Madrid, but some for other cities in Spain) and so we were all able to meet up with API and the journey began!

Madrid, Spain