Adiós Iowa. Hola España!

Hola dear friends and family. It is hard to believe that I'm in Spain but it is indeed the case.  Week one has already passed, but I will catch you up on all that has taken place since my departure from the U.S. until now...and hopefully in as few words as possible so as to not make this insanely long.  And so it begins...

On January 7th, my parents dropped me off at my friend A's house because her parents were going to drive three of us girls to the O'Hare Airport in Chicago, IL the next morning.  Upon arriving to A's house, I gave her full warning that I would need help repacking my luggage because my suitcases were just a LITTLE too full.  Our de-packing (I may have just made that up.) of my suitcases began at a semi late hour and A was a fantastic example of what it looks like to have someone tell you that you have to get rid of about half of your luggage before you can leave for Europe.  Well, by the time we were done, she had helped me to fill 3 plastic bags full of items that I really wouldn't need to have with me while I was in Spain. That is what I call a job well done!

Then came morning...my alarm went off at 6am and I don't know the last time I got up that early! We ate breakfast at A's house, and then were on the road by 7am in order to pick up D. All of us were so happy to be together and stoked to finally be getting on a plane in a few hours to begin our journey to Spain. A's parents were our lovely chauffeurs for the 4-5 hours it took to arrive to Chicago, we made our goodbyes and then went into the airport all by ourselves. I felt like such a young adult!! We were alone, without our parents to guide us, and ready to check in and get our tickets. Dropping off our luggage was a cinch and I couldn't believe how quickly we went through security! There were two funny and yet awkward things that took place though. First my belt set off the metal detector and so I had to take that off, and then I had forgotten to empty my water bottle...I had to pour it out in a nearby trashcan and then the security guard had to basically wipe a little cloth over my hands to check for alcohol or something. I really didn't know what she had to check for but it was hilarious nevertheless.

Luckily, after we got into the boarding area, we checked to make sure our flight was on time; it was but then the sweet man behind the desk told us that we could leave on the earlier flight if we would like. We jumped on that idea in order to beat any bad weather that might be coming our way. During the flight, I took the time to rest my eyes and also spend a little time praying about what adventures I would have in Spain. There was only one girl that I was sitting by, and I was really wanting to talk with her but of course, since I didn't know her, I was hesitating. The next thing that happened was clearly from God because the girl began reading a book called God on Campus. He made it clear to me by that time that He wanted me to have a conversation with this girl before our two hour flight ended. So after I rested my eyes, I couldn't sleep any more because I was putting off God's clear command to talk with the girl and He wasn't going to let me sleep any longer. After a few times of opening my mouth and not saying anything, I finally just started talking and asked her about the book she was reading. She explained it and then asked why I was curious about it. As the conversation progressed, we discovered from each other that we were both believers in Jesus Christ and then we spent some time finding out about each other: our names, where each other was from, and then we each shared our testimonies (the story about how God has changed our lives for His purposes). The openness that we had with one another was wonderful and so fun. I found out that she was going to be heading to Italy later this month to study abroad and after exchanging information AND after she gave me the book she had been reading, we said our goodbyes. I might even get to see her when I travel to Italy sometime this semester!! How sweet would that be?!?!

Now we were in the Philadelphia airport, we met up with two more UNI students, and then grabbed some dinner. It was a pleasant surprise to run into M and T and so we had a great dinner together. Chick-Fil-A was my personal choice and it was sooooo yummy! After dinner, we began practicing speaking Spanish with one another and were more than ready to head to Madrid, Spain. Pretty much everyone on the flight sounded like they were native speakers, so the 5 of us were semi intimidated but totally pumped to go! I had the opportunity to watch Inception on my own little personal screen and really love that movie, but then unlike A and D, I had no luck getting ANY sleep on our 7 hour long flight after it was over. We got to eat dinner and breakfast on the plane, and I thought that was one of the coolest things ever! In my opinion, the food was delicious. hmm hmmm good!

Now we had about five hours to kill in the Madrid airport, and I was so exhausted and ready to take a nice long nap. We were surrounded by natives of Spain and it was our first time to see the classy and fashionable people of Spain all around us. I was in love with the culture already!! The Spaniards are so B-E-A-U-tiful!!!!! It was great to actually fall asleep in the airport and not even be self-conscious about the fact that I was asleep with my head on a table in the middle of a public place where people were grabbing a bite to eat or just spending time chatting with their friends.

When it was time to board our 3rd and final plane, the five of us were all so slap-happy that we were probably coming across as being a little crazy. However, we were all really sleep deprived and yet super hilarious to one another. I sat next to a Spaniard on the plane and chatted with him before we took off (we actually spoke English though). He told me a little about Oviedo and where to find the bus after the plane would land since we would be outside of the city. Soon after talking, I could feel how tired I was and let him know that I needed to rest. I slept for the entire one hour we had on the plane and was still pretty worn out, BUT we were finally in Spain! There is more to come...stay tuned.

Hasta luego!