Successful arrival in Madrid!

HELLO FROM SPAIN!!!!

In case you couldn't tell from the caps, I'm just a tad excited about being in Europe!

Though I ran into some flight difficulties, I made it to Madrid safe and sound (though quite jet-lagged). I received my first dose of culture shock upon arrival at the Madrid-Barajas airport. I had to read and speak in Spanish for the first time in over 6 months. Since my flight landed at the crack of dawn, there weren't many other people in the airport to ask for help; I was on my own. I went straight through customs (first passport stamp-CHECK), and headed to the baggage claim.

International Terminal at Chicago-O'Hare

 Since my flight landed at Terminal 4, I had to make my way across the parking structure and find the transit that would take me to Terminal 1 where the ISA directors were meeting us. Loaded with my luggage and pure grit from no sleep on the plane, I made it to the correct terminal with a half hour to spare. After wandering around aimlessly for a few minutes, I creepily spotted a couple other people with ISA luggage tags, and introduced myself. We traded flight horror stories and asked each other about where we're from/what we're studying, etc.

Modern architecture of the Madrid airport

After a short bus ride to the center of Madrid, we stowed our bags at the hotel and went out to explore the city! Our first stop was a cute little café to drink in some local flavor. "La Libre" was a cutie little hole-in-the-wall place that felt very welcoming. We didn't venture too far into the city, but it was nice to walk around in the fresh air with new friends!

Once we arrived back at the hotel, I decided to relax for a little while before our orientation meeting that evening. Jet-lagged and over-heated, it was definitely hard to focus, but we talked a lot about Health and Safety stuff that I'd already read through (nerd alert). Post-meeting a bunch of us decided to find a local restaurant to have dinner. I stuck to the basics and just ordered patatas con salsas (potatoes with sauces). Since we ate dinner so late, by the time we got back to the hotel it was time to call it a night!

I slept like a rock my first night in Europe, even though our hotel room was overly warm (we weren't smart enough to figure out the air-conditioning properly). I'm blaming it on jet-lag! ;)