The Beginning

Hola friends and family!

My big adventure started out at 7:30 on Monday when I was leaving for Washington Reagan Airport. I had a minor blip when I realized that I had converted or deposited all my money to Euros, leaving me with $3 for the rest of my time in America. No worries, though- that's what credit cards are for! So I bought The Help to read and got some breakfast. Thankfully everything was on time and before I knew it I was in Miami. With a 4 hour layover, I had plenty of time to read and relax. My plan was to get dinner on the plane to Paris and pass out for the rest of time. Then I would wake up at 7am local time in Paris and be ready for the day. This did not work.

On my flight to Paris, I was lucky enough to have an empty seat next to me, and the aisle next to that. After dinner, I stretched out with pillow and blanket they gave me, put my ipod in and closed my eyes. The cabin was dark and quiet, and maybe it was nerves, but I couldn't seem to fall asleep. I tried every position I could, scrunching up on the two seats. It was not a lot of room for someone to lay down. I gave up after about an hour and read. Towards the end of the flight, I managed to sleep. I sat my seat, put my head on the tray table from the seat next to me and as weird as that sounds, it seemed to work. By the time I woke up, I missed breakfast and we were due to land in 45 mins, where it would be 8 am. I had slept for about two hours. I watched a little bit of the movie MegaMind and got ready for the French airport. I was told that Charles De Gaulle can be a nightmare, so I was anticipating the worst. When I got off the plane, I got my bag and found someone that spoke English who told me that my EasyJet flight was in the same terminal I was already in. I was so grateful I didn't have to take a bus around.

Even though I was in the same terminal, the airport was literally a maze. I would go down one floor just to be directed to go back up the stairs 10 yards later-and this was with my 50 lb bag and heavy backpack with my laptop in it. Every 50 yards or so I would have to find a bench and take a break. By the time I got to EasyJet I had a sweat going. When I showed the service agent my ticket, I was informed that EasyJet only lets you check in two hours before your flight, and I was about an hour early for that. So, feeling defeated and tired from lugging my stuff around, I decided to get some food from a bakery I saw a while back because it may be my only opportunity to get French pastries while in Europe. It was 2.7 euros, and well worth it. Despite just getting off an airplane, I licked all of my fingers and debated whether to lick the tray it came on too.

When I could finally get through to check my bag in, I had to pay 36 Euros (about $54) because my bag was 3 kg (6 pounds) over the weight limit. Needless to say, I will not be flying EasyJet on my return flight. After getting to the gate, I read some more and upon inspection of my purse, realized that my sunglasses broke. Once they announced that we would be boarding soon, everyone ran to get in line. I realized then that I did not have an assigned seat and it was first come-first serve for seats. I got lucky and ended up sitting in an emergency exit aisle (more leg room!) but they were extra strict and didn't even let me keep my sweatshirt tied around my waist in case it got cold. Apparently it was a hazard?

After three flights, about 26 hours of traveling, and 500 pages of my book read, I arrived in Malaga. The airport was easy, and I soon met up with my group. We took taxis to our apartments which are all in a neighborhood called "El Palo" It is about a 20 minute bus ride from "El Centro" (the downtown) and has lots of shops and is about so close to, the beach. I have a host mom and a host dad- Isabel and Juan. I spent most of the day unpacking and relaxing. We ate chicken, potatoes, salad, watermelon, cheese and bread, and vegetable stew with couscous for dinner. It was really good and I was completely full. I am so glad to finally be in Malaga, and I think it will be a great semester.

Hasta luego!