¡Ya llegué!

Where am I and what time is it?! I'm still not quite sure, but after a full 24 hours of traveling, the exciting news is that I am writing this update from our hotel room in Barcelona!

Our hotel room - it has a great bathroom and a bed for each of us!

But let me start from the beginning. My journey started last night at 6:45 when I got on a plane from Minneapolis to Amsterdam. And for those of you wondering, yes I fit ALMOST everything into two bags (weighing 46 and 47 lbs., thank you very much) and a carry-on just in case my bags got lost. Proof of my success:

On the way to the airport!

My flight from Minneapolis was around 8 hours, and pretty easy. I tried to sleep most of the time, but I think I only ended up getting a couple of hours of sleep. I fell asleep for a little bit at the beginning, was awake with jumpy legs (the worst!) for a while and then fell asleep for a couple hours again at the end of the flight. They didn't turn off the cabin lights for a while, so my eye mask was a lifesaver!

Landing in Amsterdam, I felt surprisingly rested despite the not-so-comfortable travel pillow and how little sleep I got. I'm still doing pretty well with little jet-lag! We'll see how that adjustment goes over the next couple of days... As we were waking up on the plane the woman behind me ordered a shot of whiskey - a little aggressive if you ask me, but hey, whatever floats your boat!

The Amsterdam airport was definitely more confusing than I expected, but I found my gate eventually. Despite my best efforts to look European, apparently I still look very American and I think everyone can point me out as one. Maybe it's because I showered recently? Or the fact that I have so much luggage with me... it seems Europeans have mastered the art of packing light (yeah, yeah, I'm still working on that one...).

At my gate to Barcelona, it was really fun to hear all of the different languages. I was definitely out of my element, but it was good practice to get into my Spanish listening skills! I felt like I was the only one traveling alone... where the heck were all the other foreigners like me?!

I sat next to a really wonderful woman on the plane to Barcelona. I would guess she was around 70, and a Barcelona native. All of a sudden she turned to me and asked delightedly, "Spañola?" I wasn't quite sure what she was talking about at first so I didn't know how to respond. When I finally could get my head wrapped around speaking Spanish again, we began talking about what I was going to be doing in Barcelona this fall. My Spanish is definitely rusty! At first I felt like I could barely get a sentence out - I had to ask her to slow down and repeat things a few times. It definitely got easier as I kept talking though, so hopefully that is a good sign that the language will come back quickly to me! I explained to her and her daughter that my Spanish needed practice, and they assured me that after 4 months my Spanish would be mucho mejor. We had a beautiful view of the Costa Brava on our descent:

Beautiful view of the coast

Extra credit question Sara and Dayne: which way is the prevailing long-shore drift?!

Las montañas

On my way off the plane, the woman I sat next to stopped me, kissed me on both cheeks, and wished my my best on my studies and my stay here... all in Spanish of course! It was a very comforting gesture and it made me feel like I would be able to adjust to the lifestyle here.

I think I just successfully disembarked from my first solo flight to Europe! If you have ever witnessed me travel, you KNOW that my plans never go smoothly - there is always a flight delay or cancellation! Celebrating is definitely in order.