"Is this real life?"

The last time I wrote, I had just finished packing and was getting ready to say my last goodbyes. I am currently in Ponferrada, unpacked and ready for my last week of summer with my new family! Before I post about my host family, I will tell you a little bit about how I got to this point.

My last meal in Alexandria was at my favorite bagel place with my best friends. After, I dropped them off at school and said my final goodbye. Hands down one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. Saying bye to my sister, and family was just as hard, if not harder. My parents dropped me off at the JFK Hilton in New York, and after all of the emotional goodbyes I was finally ready to get excited! The orientation was great because all of the kids from Spain were already so close from the Facebook page! 

By the end of Thursday, when everyone would get loud all the leader would have to say was "Spain, be quiet", and the room would be silent. Keep in mind there were seven other countries traveling with us, probably over two hundred kids and the Spain group consists of about 30 kids. The official orientation ended around 2 on Thursday, as groups started leaving for the airport. Our group didn't leave until 5, so we all just hung out in the lobby calling each others parents (hahaha) and taking pictures on photobooth. I can definitely say that I have made 33 new best friends in these past two days. 

We got to the airport for our 9pm flight around 5, and I was first in line to check my bag. My bags weighed exactly 50 pounds, what a relief! Then the flight started to board, and it hit me. I called my best friend and started sobbing, then everyone else joined in (by everyone I mean Paige, Lani, Ryan, and I, while we played "Here Comes Goodbye" by the Rascal Flatts on repeat.) I'm not sure if it has completely hit me yet, but walking on to the plane was so surreal. The moment I had been unofficially counting down since I was 12. The moment I had officially been counting down for 200 days. It was happening.

I was so lucky that I got to sit next to Erinn, (who I've mentioned in previous posts) who was also planning to get in as much sleep as possible. We were knocked out for the first four hours, which is better than most of the others can say, and then talked and enjoyed the heated croissants for the rest of the time. After we arrived in Zurich for an hour, and everyone had stocked up on their Swiss chocolate, we boarded the flight to Madrid. I was wide awake the entire time, all of us were. Watching the screen just above my seat as we entered Spain, thinking about our new homes, families, and lives. 

After getting our luggage, we walked to the exit to find 3 AFS volunteers in neon green shirts. One of my good friends, Aitor, who was an exchange student in Alexandria and went to my school last year is also a liaison and one of the AFS volunteers meeting us at the airport. I immediately dropped all of my stuff, and hugged him. In such a foreign place, surrounded by a foreign language, and foreign people, it's so great to see a familiar face. Especially someone that had greatly influenced my decision to study abroad in Spain. 

Then we took a bus to the outskirts of Madrid, where we stayed at a youth hostile. This is when I really started to realize how different the American and Spanish cultures really are. First of all, we were rooming with 3 other people, boys and girls. It was cool because i was in a room with 3 other people going to Ponferrada. After we had settled in, we met for a few icebreaker games. One of the games is kind of hard to explain, it involved kissing? It was a little awkward in the beginning, especially for the Americans. This is how you play: everyone gets a number, then someone starts off in the center of the circle. The person in the center calls out two numbers, the two people that are called are trying to kiss the person who called their numbers (the one in the center). They both sprint to the person, but that person in the middle is resisting, to make it harder and more hilarious. People were practically tackling each other! Ultimately, out of the two people, the one that gets to kiss the person in the center last, has to sit in the middle and it starts over. I guess another obvious difference is that a game like this would never have been played in America. After that  we had dinner, and then we all hung out in our rooms.  The next morning (Saturday), we all got up around 8:00, and met at 8:30 to depart for our busses to our different cities. We said goodbye to all of our new friends, and were on our way!

This was pretty long, and I am so exhausted from the past four days of constant travel. I will definitely blog soon, and all about the eventful bus ride to Ponferrada, meeting my family, and my first few days here!

Hasta pronto!