Flight Information
As a person who is terrified of heights and haven't been on a plane since she was little, the plane rides to Spain weren't as bad as I thought they would be. I had a connecting flight, so I went from Chicago to Charlotte, NC, then from Charlotte to Madrid, Spain. On the flight from Chicago to Charlotte was when I was the most nervous. I hadn't been on a plane since I was about 7 years old and I didn't know what to expect. So I immediately closed the shade to my window and closed my eyes when I got on the plane. When the plane was just going down the runway, I thought we were taking off and began to freak out a little bit, but later I realized we were still on the runway because they had a clerical error and thought they were missing someone. When we actually took off, I didn't have much time to freak out because it goes by so quickly. It jets into the air which is where you feel the most movements but once in the air, it starts feeling like your in a train. (Mind you, I did close the shade of the window when we took off and I kept it closed till we landed, so that helped with me thinking it was a train). I guess I was thinking I would experience a lot of turbulence and not be able to relax, but it was very calm and by the time I was on the plane from Charlotte to Madrid, I was brave enough to open the window shield to look out the window while we were in the air.
If this is your first time in an airport it's ok because the whole process is very easy to go through. You enter the airport, find your terminal by walking or taking a shuttle, then you can go to a kiosk or a desk and get bag tags for your luggage, your boarding pass and your flight itinerary. Once you get those you can put the tags on your bags and go check the ones your not taking on the plane with you. After that you go through security and go find your gate and wait to board your plane. Its very easy so don't be nervous of flying or dealing with the airport, I haven't been to one since I was little and of course I was not paying attention then, and I was still able to make it through and board my plane on time. *Caution* When you get your bag tags make sure you keep the receipt because when I arrived in Spain the sent one of my luggage to the other side and luckily I kept the receipts because when I gave it to the customer service representative she was able to look up where my luggage was and that's how I found out it got sent to the other side of the airport. So please hold on to those receipts.
Primero Dia
My first day in Espana was very tiring, I would say expect to sleep most of the day when you get here. When I arrived in Spain it was 8:25am and because of a series of unfortunate events like my luggage being lost and being in terminal 4 when I needed to be in terminal 1, I was late to meeting my group. When I finally met them it was 10am we then left the airport around 11am and took a bus to Toledo which took about 30 mins,(though i'm not exactly sure how long the ride was cause I was a sleep) but it felt like 30-40 minutes. Then I met my host family and we went to their apartment which wasn't that far from the meeting point. My host mom took me on a tour of the apartment where she told me that she owned three floors in the building, which I was pleasantly surprised by. Then we ate lunch, *caution* in Spain the people eat their meal in sections. For example, for lunch that day we had to eat what they call an "ensalada" which I knew to mean a salad but here it means a variety of vegetables cut up together and you put olive oil, vinegar, and salt on it. I didn't like the first ensalada because this ensalada had eggs, peas, green beans, tomatoes, and something else I cant remember the name of. And you have to eat all of the first plate before you get to the second plate so I ate all of it and told them later that I didn't like it and what about it I didn't like and they didn't make it again. For the second part of lunch we had meatballs and what they call "papas fritas" which I knew to be French fries but here it really just means fried potatoes cut up very small but not in the shape of French fries. And after the main course we (me, the mother, the father, and the daughter) ate fruit, which is very common after almost every meal here. After lunch the mother urged me to take a nap which I was fine with because I was stuffed and tired, so I took a nap for about three hours, woke up and then unpacked my luggages. Afterwards I tried to meet up with a few people from my group but it didn't work out because we didn't know where we were or how to get anywhere yet, so I called it a day and went back home. Which was ok because it was nine o'clock at night and we had to be up early the next day. One thing that you will notice right away is that it stays light out till about10pm, which is why I think they party so late because if it looks like the afternoon at nine o'clock at night who wouldn't want to keep going. When I arrived back home I talked to my host mom about not being able to meet up with my classmates then called my family and then it was time for dinner. (BTW:They really do eat dinner at like 10 o'clock at night).Then I took a shower and slept till it was time to get up the next day.
Before coming here I remember looking up life in Spain and they said that Spaniards main focus is on lunch and you eat lunch from like 1:30-4pm and then eat a snack at like 5-7pm and have dinner at 10pm. I would like to say that this is pretty accurate, I eat breakfast at around 8am because I have class at 9. Breakfast usually consists of a small pastry cake and think type of luke warm hot chocolate that come in a juice cartoon or I have had bread with butter and jam or a croissant with butter and jam. I was expecting to only eat like one piece of bread for breakfast on the first day but my host mom told me that I'm suppose to eat the whole thing and drink all the "milk" which I was ok with because I like to have a big breakfast but at the same time I was running late and really didn't have time to sit down and eat all of it but since I didn't want to be rude I just sat down and relaxed while I ate. *You'll notice that no one is in a rush here, everyone takes there time an gets there when they get there*. Then you don't really eat till about 1:30pm which is a struggle for me and the other students because your supposed to eat at 1pm then not eat another meal till 10pm. So what me and the other students end up doing is getting something out the cafeteria of the university after our first class, which is 11 and is close to when we would eat lunch in America, then probably grab another bite to eat after our second class and try to hold of or get a small snack till its dinner time, where our families will cook something for us. *the food in the cafeteria is pretty cheap so don't worry if this sounds like a lot of money your probably spending at most 4 euros on a meal in the cafeteria. I got a hamburger, fries and a drink for 3.90 euros, other got a sandwhich and drink for much less.*
As a person who is terrified of heights and haven't been on a plane since she was little, the plane rides to Spain weren't as bad as I thought they would be. I had a connecting flight, so I went from Chicago to Charlotte, NC, then from Charlotte to Madrid, Spain. On the flight from Chicago to Charlotte was when I was the most nervous. I hadn't been on a plane since I was about 7 years old and I didn't know what to expect. So I immediately closed the shade to my window and closed my eyes when I got on the plane. When the plane was just going down the runway, I thought we were taking off and began to freak out a little bit, but later I realized we were still on the runway because they had a clerical error and thought they were missing someone. When we actually took off, I didn't have much time to freak out because it goes by so quickly. It jets into the air which is where you feel the most movements but once in the air, it starts feeling like your in a train. (Mind you, I did close the shade of the window when we took off and I kept it closed till we landed, so that helped with me thinking it was a train). I guess I was thinking I would experience a lot of turbulence and not be able to relax, but it was very calm and by the time I was on the plane from Charlotte to Madrid, I was brave enough to open the window shield to look out the window while we were in the air.
If this is your first time in an airport it's ok because the whole process is very easy to go through. You enter the airport, find your terminal by walking or taking a shuttle, then you can go to a kiosk or a desk and get bag tags for your luggage, your boarding pass and your flight itinerary. Once you get those you can put the tags on your bags and go check the ones your not taking on the plane with you. After that you go through security and go find your gate and wait to board your plane. Its very easy so don't be nervous of flying or dealing with the airport, I haven't been to one since I was little and of course I was not paying attention then, and I was still able to make it through and board my plane on time. *Caution* When you get your bag tags make sure you keep the receipt because when I arrived in Spain the sent one of my luggage to the other side and luckily I kept the receipts because when I gave it to the customer service representative she was able to look up where my luggage was and that's how I found out it got sent to the other side of the airport. So please hold on to those receipts.
Primero Dia
My first day in Espana was very tiring, I would say expect to sleep most of the day when you get here. When I arrived in Spain it was 8:25am and because of a series of unfortunate events like my luggage being lost and being in terminal 4 when I needed to be in terminal 1, I was late to meeting my group. When I finally met them it was 10am we then left the airport around 11am and took a bus to Toledo which took about 30 mins,(though i'm not exactly sure how long the ride was cause I was a sleep) but it felt like 30-40 minutes. Then I met my host family and we went to their apartment which wasn't that far from the meeting point. My host mom took me on a tour of the apartment where she told me that she owned three floors in the building, which I was pleasantly surprised by. Then we ate lunch, *caution* in Spain the people eat their meal in sections. For example, for lunch that day we had to eat what they call an "ensalada" which I knew to mean a salad but here it means a variety of vegetables cut up together and you put olive oil, vinegar, and salt on it. I didn't like the first ensalada because this ensalada had eggs, peas, green beans, tomatoes, and something else I cant remember the name of. And you have to eat all of the first plate before you get to the second plate so I ate all of it and told them later that I didn't like it and what about it I didn't like and they didn't make it again. For the second part of lunch we had meatballs and what they call "papas fritas" which I knew to be French fries but here it really just means fried potatoes cut up very small but not in the shape of French fries. And after the main course we (me, the mother, the father, and the daughter) ate fruit, which is very common after almost every meal here. After lunch the mother urged me to take a nap which I was fine with because I was stuffed and tired, so I took a nap for about three hours, woke up and then unpacked my luggages. Afterwards I tried to meet up with a few people from my group but it didn't work out because we didn't know where we were or how to get anywhere yet, so I called it a day and went back home. Which was ok because it was nine o'clock at night and we had to be up early the next day. One thing that you will notice right away is that it stays light out till about10pm, which is why I think they party so late because if it looks like the afternoon at nine o'clock at night who wouldn't want to keep going. When I arrived back home I talked to my host mom about not being able to meet up with my classmates then called my family and then it was time for dinner. (BTW:They really do eat dinner at like 10 o'clock at night).Then I took a shower and slept till it was time to get up the next day.
Before coming here I remember looking up life in Spain and they said that Spaniards main focus is on lunch and you eat lunch from like 1:30-4pm and then eat a snack at like 5-7pm and have dinner at 10pm. I would like to say that this is pretty accurate, I eat breakfast at around 8am because I have class at 9. Breakfast usually consists of a small pastry cake and think type of luke warm hot chocolate that come in a juice cartoon or I have had bread with butter and jam or a croissant with butter and jam. I was expecting to only eat like one piece of bread for breakfast on the first day but my host mom told me that I'm suppose to eat the whole thing and drink all the "milk" which I was ok with because I like to have a big breakfast but at the same time I was running late and really didn't have time to sit down and eat all of it but since I didn't want to be rude I just sat down and relaxed while I ate. *You'll notice that no one is in a rush here, everyone takes there time an gets there when they get there*. Then you don't really eat till about 1:30pm which is a struggle for me and the other students because your supposed to eat at 1pm then not eat another meal till 10pm. So what me and the other students end up doing is getting something out the cafeteria of the university after our first class, which is 11 and is close to when we would eat lunch in America, then probably grab another bite to eat after our second class and try to hold of or get a small snack till its dinner time, where our families will cook something for us. *the food in the cafeteria is pretty cheap so don't worry if this sounds like a lot of money your probably spending at most 4 euros on a meal in the cafeteria. I got a hamburger, fries and a drink for 3.90 euros, other got a sandwhich and drink for much less.*
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