First Impressions [impresiones primeras]

Golfo watching over the local dog park as the other dogs soak up attention on the other side of the camera.

   It has been a crazy whirlwind two days traveling to and arriving in Spain. Both of my flights were delayed but I met a bunch of wonderful people while waiting for them. While in Detroit, I spoke with two older ladies that were just all around wonderful people. They actually ended up giving me a lucky penny they found. The man sitting next to me on the flight into New Jersey was a regular so he pointed out the New York City skyline to me (which I've never seen before.) Then finally, as the TSA security system went down and we waited on a plane for 30 bags to go through security and be loaded onto the plane, I sat next to this sweet 16-year-old girl from Madrid who had just spent 10 months studying in California. And at the end of all of that, I made it into Madrid with about an hour to spare. From there, it was an hour and a half bus ride into Segovia where my host mom picked me up from the bus station.
   Needless to say, my sleep-deprived, food-deprived, disoriented self went through a roller coaster of emotions for the first part of my day with my host mom. I was completely overwhelmed with being in a brand new environment, with no one that I'm close to, and everyone speaking Spanish. I even questioned my decision to do a full emersion study abroad program. My host mom is a very sweet woman and was very accommodating to me. She insisted that she make me lunch and then I take several hours to rest and shower. I napped, wrote in my journal, cleaned up, changed and came out feeling like a brand new person. My brain was working again so I could actually converse with my host mom (she speaks no English.) I worked on some of the homework that is due when my class starts on Monday (lame!) and then we took her dog, Golfo, to the dog park. While I was there, I got to play with like six dogs and speak with a lot of her friends who also live in Segovia. One of them even complemented my Spanish. :) I am so happy with my decision to come here and  am so lucky to have such an understanding woman taking care of me. I cannot wait to see what these six weeks have in store for me.