The beginning of the journey...

It's 10:55pm on January 7th... these past 2 days have been a whirlwind of insanity. Here's a snippet of my journey!

At 8:30am my parents and I headed to DFW to catch my first flight to Boston! I got checked in at the desk and checked my 2 bags. I went through security (took forever)and then went to the gate where I found Katie waiting!!! We boarded the plane and- of course- had a screaming child next to us. The parents did NOTHING to shut their kid up. It was obnoxious. The movie for the DFW-Boston flight was "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs", I can say it's not my favorite movie... haha... raining pancakes and whatnot... yeah...

Katie and I arrived in Boston and then had to find the International terminal which involved leaving the terminal, boarding a bus, and re-going through security!! It was a relatively quick process, so no complaints there. The Boston Logan airport is SO confusing. We finally found where we were trying to go... and then waited for a couple hours before the flight began boarding. So far, we hadn't run into any other Tech people, but they arrived minutes before boarding! Hooray for delayed flights!!

Iberia Airlines: evil. I will say that they were nice to delay our flight for an hour as we sat on the tarmac waiting for the connection luggage (I'm sure from the other Tech kids' delayed flight... no hard feelings toward them...) Continuing on to their evil-ness:
THEY LEFT THE OVERHEAD CABIN LIGHTS ON FOR THE FIRST 3 HOURS OF OUR FLIGHT. They refused to let us sleep!! We got free dinner though! Although it came back to bite us all in the butt when the turbulence over the Atlantic Ocean got so severe that people were throwing up left and right (mind you, this occurred on and off for 2 hours). Lucky me, I was in the bathroom when the turbulence hit, so the lady waiting to go next and I had to stand in the aisle gripping the seats for our lives as we were being thrown around in the air. I finally made it back to my seat and was so nauseated that I sat down and tried not to throw up. The air wasn't on, so it was really hot and disgusting- I think this also contributed to the barfing masses. The movie was, again, "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs". I fell asleep and then the evil people TURNED THE OVERHEAD LIGHTS ON AGAIN (1 hour before landing). They passed out a boxed breakfast thing.. I slept through all of this.

So far what I've noticed: they assume you don't know Spanish, so they speak to you in English (all the gate agents, flight attendants and pilots are bi-lingual).

We arrive in Madrid!!! It's raining and cold. This is the most confusing airport I've ever been in. Katie and I make it through customs- my customs officer man only spoke to me in Spanish- and QUIZZED me over Spanish geography. WHY?!? It was strange. Katie and I went to McDonalds and got a bottle of water and sat around- we had over 4 hours to kill before our connecting flight to Sevilla.

By this time, I'm so exhausted I hardly have the strength to stand- let alone haul my ridiculously heavy carry-on and coat. The Madrid airport is a gigantic labyrinth. We went upstairs and down, left and right, and finally found our general area. We arrived in Madrid at 7:20am and our connecting flight left at 11:50am- the information desk guy said no gate would be posted until 10:55am. I couldn't keep my eyes open, so I laid on my purse and put my jacket over my carry-on and passed out. Katie and I found the gate and got on the flight and again, I passed out- I don't remember take off and I barely remember landing. At baggage claim, my suitcases came out quickly- MY BAGS MADE IT, I WAS SO RELIEVED. We got a taxi to the airport and the bell boy helped me drag my luggage up. Only 1 room key per room- my roommate was already here and you have to shove the keycard into this slot for the electricity to work.

I took a shower and a nap and when my alarm went off, I felt like I'd been hit by a truck and I was still on the ground. I went down to the meeting and everyone was falling asleep. Some people got cell phones through Apelcom and then we learned about some basic safety information for Sevilla.

Dinner was at 8:30pm- the food is weird. we had this strange mushroom soup, tomato sauce and fish, and this ice cream.

Bree and Katie and I took a stroll around Sevilla and took some pictures- I'll upload them later because the internet connection is too slow right now due to everyone skyping with their friends and family!

My first impression of Sevilla- it seriously looks fake, like a movie set. All the streets are cobblestone and extremely narrow, it's so crazy!! I took some cool pictures.

So far, so good, now all I have to do is get rid of this jet lag!! I'm exhausted!! The eating schedule is going to be the weirdest to adjust to: breakfast around 8, lunch 2:30, and dinner at 9 or later. Crazy.

Anyway, this is a brief recollection of my travel days and my first day in Sevilla!!

Love,
Merick :)