Close your eyes and imagine you're on a plane.
Now imagine you're on there for 8 hours with a screaming child only 2 rows back, sleeping is not an option at this point, and you're about to spend a month in a country where you don't know the language.

That's my reality.

For the last 6 months I've been preparing to study abroad in Granada, Spain. Okay, I've been ~thinking~ about preparing. I only started really preparing a week ago. I like packing, but packing for a month sucks. Like, a lot. Do you know how many times I questioned what was considered a liquid and what wasn't? Makeup remover wipes are a liquid cause you can squeeze them and, bam, liquid. Needless to say, I put everything in a clear bag just to be safe.

I've only ever flown once before, but it was cross country. However, I've never flown international. I figured it would be the same, just a larger plane and a longer ride. I was right, but I was surprised to find that I actually enjoyed the meals we were served. Maybe the 8 chicken nuggets from Chick-Fil-A I had eaten 5 hours before didn't fill me up and I would've been happy with anything.

The flight itself was great. We arrived 30 minutes early, the FA's were very nice, they have all the good movies to watch, and there was very little turbulence. HOWEVER, with my luck, there was a small child 2 rows behind me who screamed for (and I'm not even exaggerating) 7 of the 7.5 hours. That in combination with my inability to fall asleep anywhere other than a bed, I got maybe an hour of sleep. Flight 2 of 4: 8/10 would recommend w/o baby.

We finally arrived in Madrid around 7am, just in time to watch the sun rise over the mountains. After unboarding, walking a mile to the passport check, waiting 20 minutes in the passport check line, taking a subway to another part of the airport, 15 minutes to find our luggage, 10 minutes to exchange our money, and another 10 to find a taxi, we were on our way to our hostel!
We noticed right away some differences from American culture. On the roads, motorcycles drive between the cars. Like, full speed scootin' through traffic. That made me very nervous to say the least. Second, there's graffiti EVERYWHERE. On shop doors, windows, sidewalks, apartments, hotels, you name it. It's beautiful, but shocking to see how it's so freely done here. And lastly, there's a beer vending machine in my hostel. Beer is cheaper than water here. Enough said.

After a wild taxi ride to our hostel, we checked in at 9am, only to find out we can't have our room until 2pm. We dropped off our bags behind the counter and took off to explore the city. Well, what was open. We found a cute restaurant open for breakfast, where I discovered that drinking coffee "black" here, means a shot of espresso. Unfortunately, I drink so much coffee not even that could wake me up.

It's currently 12:04 pm, and we're still waiting for our room to be ready. Luckily siesta time is soon, and then I feel a vending machine beer in my near future.

Hasta luego!