Final del primer día

It is the end of my first day here in Spain, and it certainly was interesting.

Our plane arrived on time, so we were able to pass through customs around 8:00 this morning. A group of us who had met at O'Hare then claimed our baggage (luckily nothing was missing) and then went to be driven to our homestays.

My roommates and I met our host-mom, Mari Angeles, at the door and she showed us to the apartment she shares with her husband Arturo. It is cozy (which I was expecting) but it is already starting to feel like home.

We then went on a walk around the neighborhood to change money and find a store that sold European sim-cards for our phones. Walking about the city is an incredible experience, and even small differences/similarities jump out at you. For example, an enormous crowd of hundreds of protesters from the transportation union rode by on their bicycles shouting chants in demonstration, and I was immediately reminded of the Critical Mass bike rides which take place in Chicago.

After exploring a little, my roommates and I came back home and crashed. I had been running purely on adrenaline and my body had had enough. I was very happy to get some rest, and what was supposed to be a quick nap turned into a 5 hour sleep (one of the reasons I hate to nap).

Unfortunately, the day was not all roses. I accidentally broke my surge protector when I plugged it in because of the higher voltage used in Europe (I thought it wouldn't matter for a surge protector, guess I was wrong) and it turns out I didn't need to bring it anyways because my computer doesn't even need it. I also learned that I applied to receive a phone with the program wrong, and as a result, I won't be getting one; which is great because I left my charger for my phone at home. I will probably end up getting a pay-as-you-go phone here, but not for another couple of days.

Tomorrow I have yet another free-day because orientation was pushed back to Monday due to the strike and I plan on exploring even further.