So it All Begins! Traveling to Sevilla and First Days

9:04 … Madrid

            All right It is 9:04 in the morning in Madrid or otherwise 2 Am Chicago / Wisconsin time. I definitely did not land anywhere in the United States I can tell you that much.              It was hard to say good-bye to my parents, because I will miss them like crazy. They are simply the best, and my mom was so wonderful with packing me up.  And my Dad took the blue line all the way out from downtown Chicago to say good-bye to me… love my parents. 

            My flight was decent, about 7.5 hours with a 20-minute delay or so because we had to get de-iced.  I sat next to this guy named Alex.  He was a 2010 DePaul graduate who was teaching English in Granada.  He had also studied abroad and so he decided to return to teach English. He gave some really good advice, such as how to properly greet in Spain (the double kiss on the cheek), how to speak to your host family (using the Usted vs. Tú form), and just some other general good advice.  The crazy part was that Alex ended up knowing DJ, who was an usher at my brother’s wedding.  DJ and Alex were acquaintances and both had worked at the pizza restaurant.  Small world. Further more, I was not able to sleep on the flight, so I guess I’m pulling an “all-nighter”. And I cannot explain how nice it is to fly on other international airlines…they are not cheap with amenities for their passengers.  We got two decent meals and they came around offering coffee and tea.  You could also go grab cups of water in the back of the airplane if you wanted it. So high-five Iberia Airlines.

            Okay but the Madrid airport was insanely huge.  You got off and had to walk on a few moving walkways. Then you were separated at customs by either EU citizen as well as Switzerland and a few other countries and then everyone else was in a different line. Thankfully it was an early Saturday morning and there were not a lot of people so I got right through customs.  After that you had to go down a couple of flights of stairs, board a tram for 5 minutes, and then go through chaos of security (again).  Although Chicago can have long security lines, at least the place is fairly organized compared to Madrid.  People kept cutting each other and it was hard to tell where the end of a line was.  However I got through eventually, but the lines were not so organized.  After security, I went to the gate for flight #116 to Sevilla, but turns out that that was the earlier flight – so I could have made it, but it would have been tight.  I am flight 106, which departs at 11:50. I am more than happy to have a few hours for my next flight. Other than that, I’m hanging out in the McDonalds in the airport… maybe I’ll get some food and get some McD’s and be classy? Ha.

            Oh and I’m wearing my long-sleeve green SNC t-shirt, black yoga pants, and my running shoes…. And boy do I not fit in.  So far, most of the women have a beautiful fashion sense; hopefully I can join them and their fashionable style after I unpack.  They all have beautiful sweaters, scarves boots and gorgeous purses.

And this entry is to be continued because I cannot post it online unless I decide to buy some internet time for about 5 Euro…ha no.

            And the story continues!  I took a smaller plane from Madrid to Sevilla.  On the plane, there was a girl across the aisle who was from Australia who was going to study in Sevilla for a month on an exchange program.  The poor girl had been on 4  flights; from Sydney to Singapore, Singapore to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Madrid and Madrid to Sevilla.  I cannot even imagine how many hours she had been traveling, so I had no right to complain about how tired I was. Anyways, I arrived sleepy eyed and little dazy at the Sevilla airport.  It was a tiny little thing and it reminded me a little bit of the Green Bay airport, maybe a little larger.  Both of my suitcases made it to Sevilla with me, and I could not have been happier about that.  With luggage and my travel backpack and purse, I walked through the exit of the baggage claim praying to the heavens that someone from my host family would be there.  And alas, to my relief, my padre, Pepe was there with a little sign that had “Erica” on it.  When I saw him I had tears in my eyes because I was so worried that maybe they had forgotten.  It was such a relief.  And I did the correct Spanish greeting! You have to kiss on both cheeks starting on their left and then the right. So rock on, me. I thought it was going to be awkward, but nay it was totally fine. By the way, my padre is one freaking handsome man.  

            We walked out of the Sevilla airport, and it immediately felt like spring to me.  Some rain had fallen, but I can definitely say I left winter behind! And when I walked out I also noticed the lemon and orange trees.  They are beautiful and apparently in March it just smells amazing throughout the city.

            We got to the car and Pepe told me that the name of his car is Valetín because he had purchased close to Valentine’s Day, haha it was funny.  We started driving and I was able to understand most of what he was saying.  Pepe is retired and worked for the air force.  In fact he had been a secretary of air force to an ambassador in Brussels for a few years.  He has a daughter named Paula (31), who is an international lawyer in Madrid.  I also had a chance to talk to Paula on the phone and she said that if I ever want to ask something in English, to please call her.  She is very generous and that was so thoughtful of her. Her son Guillermo (29) was here for the weekend with his girlfriend and so far I’ve only seen them once – otherwise they are on the 3^rd floor of the house.   Guillermo works with computer and technology.  Both of their children work in Madrid but come visit to Sevilla on the weekends. When I arrived at the house, I was introduced to my wonderful mother, Matilde.  She is wonderful and very kind.  I had to drag my luggage upstairs, but thankfully Pepe helped me.  I was shown my room, which is pretty tiny.  However, I have shelves so I am able to put my clothes on them.  I started to unpack a bit, but then around 3 or so I had a nice lunch with Matilde and Pepe.  We had salad, a beef soup with veggies and I had some delicious juice which is a combo of white grapes and peaches – it so so good.  At this point I had been up for about 24 hours and I really wasn’t comprehending Spanish.  So after lunch I tried to unpack more, but Matilde knocked on my door and said as some advice from a mamí, I should sleep. And so that is what I did for 2.5 hours.

            Afterwards, we had another meal of carrot soup, chicken, and fries.  You know what, it was a weird combo of foods that I was not used to, but after the crazy and long day I’ve had I would have eaten anything. They could have put cow tongue or fish eye balls in front of me and said, here eat this, and I would have mindlessly eaten it. Seriously.

            Following dinner, I talked with a few people via Skype and video chatted with my parents.  I have to stay Skype is awesome.  It was great to “see” my parents. I can’t imagine being abroad without it.  And then I passed out for 11 hours. Ha.

            The next morning (today) I got up and had a basic breakfast with granola cereal and dried fruit. But today I got to experience my first “Spanish power shower.”  Haha I’m making it sound extreme, but really you just have to be careful with how much water you use.  No just hanging out in there – do your business and you are outta there. There is a sign they made by the shower that says, “We are in a drought region please limit shower use.”  So that was kind of intimidating because I want to respect their house as much as possible.

            After I was ready for the day, Pepe showed me how to walk to school from the house, which was very nice of him.  The university is so close, its unreal. The university is not as modern as I thought it would be, but it’s nice nonetheless. I’ll start my 2-week intensive program tomorrow, so I’m excited to meet people and get things going here.  Afterwards, Pepe took me on a tour around the town of Montequinto, which is close to the neighborhood that I’m living in.   Montequinto and Condequinto are separated by the highway, and so I live on the Condequinto side, but I’m still a 5 minute walk from Montequinto.  Anyways, there was a market set up really close to the house where you can buy things for cheap such as clothes and food on Saturday and Sundays, but sadly they were shutting down because of a quick 5-minute rain. As we continued to walk, Pepe pointed out the garbage that was in the field beside the market.  It was incredible to see the amount of garbage that people had just left behind.  Furthermore, Pepe took me on a tour of Montequinto, which is pretty quaint.  Lots of apartments, some bars here and there, and he pointed out the best Tapas place to go, so I will be making a stop there.  Also, there are lots of roundabouts in the city so it truly feels like Wisconsin, haha.

            One of the funniest language barriers we had today was that he was talking about someone he knew that had a dog. And when he was describing the dog that this friend of his had, Pepe would try to scrunch his face. He did this about 3 or 4 times haha.  He finally remembered the type of breed that the dog was, which was a Pug. Haha it was great.  After walking for 2 hours, we came back and had a lovely lunch.

            Another interesting conversation was that Pepe described to me that in Barcelona there is a group of Arabs that are forming a political party and he is nervous about it.  Reason being is that the Arabs only take care of each other and would not take care of the Spaniards.  I asked him if they would get their power from money, and he said, no but from their religion. Interesting to hear about it nonetheless.

            Anyways, I’m really excited to meet people in my program tomorrow and make some friends haha. I want to explore the city, but going alone is really intimidating. And I don’t feel like getting lost.

More updates to come. Sorry this is so long! But it’s all just so new and exciting.  Love and miss everyone.

Besos y Salude,

Erica