Flight Day = Longest Day of My Life

Yay, my host family has wifi!  This will make it easier to post more often.  This is the first time I've had access to the internet so far, so I have alot to write about!  

I woke up at 8:30 on Friday morning and we left for the airport at around 10.  From Chicago I flew to D.C, and I was surprised that it wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be with NATO and everything.  Everything went pretty smooth.  I had about an hour once I got to DC, and then from there we flew to Madrid.  We got to Madrid at 7:30am, which is 12:30am in the U.S.  I couldn't really sleep on the plane, so I was pretty tired when we got there.  There were three of us on that flight and the majority of the group didn't get there till noon.  Then there was one girl we had to wait for who didn't get there till like 4, so we were waiting in the airport for 8 1/2 hours.  Needless to say it was a long day, and it was all I could do not to fall asleep, I was so tired.  At around 4 we took a bus to Valladolid, which was about 2 hours away and there Melissa(my roommate) and I met our host family.  They both are so nice!!! I'm so thankful that they are our host parents.  They are so hospitable and treat us like their own children.  For dinner she cooked us Patata, and it was delicious.  Then she took us on a small tour of Valladolid and it was beautiful!!  The buildings are so quaint, and the architecture is beautiful, and everyone walks places, its pretty laid back.  When we got back to the apartment we basically went right to bed because we were so tired.  I counted, we had been awake for 31 hours straight, so I was EXHAUSTED.  Arriving in Spain, everything was kind of a big shock all at once.  I was in a new country with all new people that I hadn't met before speaking a whole new language sleeping in a new house with no cell phone or internet to connect with familiar things right away, and I think the combination of all the newness and lack of sleep made me feel like crying.  I really missed my family and friends back home and it's like I wanted to go back but I realized that I was here for 6 more weeks.  

This morning we woke up at 830 here and I felt so much better and happier after sleeping 11 hours.  Our host mom Cristina said that when we shower we had to turn off the water when we shampoo and stuff to save the hot water.  Well, I got up and used the shower and it was already FREEZING!  I tried turning it to the right and it was really cold, then I kept it it the center, still cold, then I turned it to the left and it was warm for like half a second then got cold again.  I hope I don't have to take a cold shower everyday!  Once we got ready Melissa and I took the bus to this building where we took a placement exam for our Spanish classes, once we took that we had an orientation to the University, then took a tour of the city.  We went back to our house for lunch at 3, and now I am blogging in my room and getting ready to take a nap.  Here they call them "siestas."  It's kind of funny they like close down all the stores and basically shut down the city from 2-5 because everyone is taking their siesta.  Haha.  Anyway, still getting used to all the change, but everything is so great!