The Crazy Adventure

"The Lord works out everything for his own ends--..." Proverbs 16:4.

January 5, 2012:

First of all, holy moly its 2012. I almost wrote 2011 but then it hit me that we’re in a new year. And what a cool way to start off the new year then to travel to Spain! Waiting at the Dallas Fort Worth airport now. Took a 6 am flight from Portland to Dallas and am now in the process of a six hour layover before my flight to Madrid. Then one more hour long flight from Madrid to Granada. Longest traveling I’ve done yet in my life. But its fun. I love to fly and the layover has actually been going pretty fast. I cant believe that Im on my way over to Spain. It feels so surreal. But I feel truly blessed to have this opportunity and experience to go to Granada. And while I’m a little nervous Im really excited too. I also found out that my roommate for the program will be on this long flight as well. It gives me the chance to get to know her a little before we both show up to our host family’s home. In the mean time while I wait for her to get here, I have been hanging out with some girls from PLU. This has been nice because I have had some company during this long trip. The two girls are very sweet and are making me more excited to go by talking about all the things they want to see, things they’re nervous about, and ways we can all help each other. Its good to have a support system already and know that I’m not alone with all my feelings. It’s also been good to get to know some people who are doing the program as well that go to my school because when I get back it will be nice to talk to students who have been through the experiences that I have.

Also to pass the time I’ve been chatting with some family and friends before I have to turn off my phone. That’s something I’ll definitely have to get used to…..no unlimited texting or minutes. Normally if I want to talk to someone I just give them a call and hear their voice (which being far away from home would be soothing) but I’ll rely more on email, facebook and skype. So that will be an adjustment. It definitely makes me more thankful that technology has developed a lot more now. It would be a lot harder to study away without the web or skype-I would have to rely on letters. Oh my! I give a lot of props to people who communicate only with letters. It’s tough. But in a way this is also nice because then I can really focus on my studies and on my experiences in Spain. It will be a little vacation from reality in a way.

Well it’s 6:30 Dallas time and our flight was delayed indefinitely until we get a new plane. Our scheduled plane became out of service so they’re looking for a new plane. But I met up with a big group of students who are in the program and we all got our second flight from Madrid to Granada changed since the delay was going to make us miss our flight. *Also another side adventure…one of the flight attendants thought our visas expired two weeks before our program even ended. But to our naïve knowledge we all misread the date wrong. So we were all good. The many adventures of traveling internationally. Everyone I’ve met so far from the program seems super nice! So im very happy about that! And my roommate Ashley is SUPER tall (wonder who she reminds me of? (: ) I get the tallest roommates!

January 6, 2012:

So my flight got delayed a half an hour, then an hour, then two hours…..a total of three hours which made my layover a total of nine and a half hours long. Whew! But the last three hours were super fun because there was a group of 16 of us from the program all together. There was a group from Gonzaga and a group from UPS and then our group of PLU. It was good to meet and get to know them all so it wouldn’t be so overwhelming during orientation meeting the total group of 50 since I knew 16 already.

It’s been sooo nice to travel with this bigger group. We all have helped each other out and its more fun instead of being by yourself confused and scared. Everyone is in the same situation so we’ve all bonded and worked together to get to Granada. Community! Yeah!

In line to get on the plane from Dallas to Madrid I met a young boy, probably 10 or 11, Maxxy. He was telling me about their celebration of Ephiphany (the day of the three wise men). He said that it was a day filled with presents and family and the celebration of the three wise men giving Jesus his gifts. He compared it to our Christmas with Santa but instead of Santa they had the three kings. He was so sweet and super cute-really friendly and was super excited to talk to me about Spain. It was also so funny because I asked him what his name was in Spanish and he replied and then asked me and I told him and then he responded “That’s a beautiful name”. (gotta watch out for these Spanish boys) I also met a man, Julian, who sat next to me on the flight. W e talked about the differences between English and Spanish and gave each other tips about each language. It was nice having someone friendly to sit next to on the long flight when I was awake. He also gave me some encouragement and excitement talking about Granada and how beautiful it was and how friendly the people were.

Since our flight from Dallas to Madrid was delayed three hours our connecting flight from Madrid to Granada had to be switched to 4pm instead of 11:50am. Our flight landed in Madrid at 1:35pm or 13:35pm (9 hour difference from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho). Our group all reconnected, and rejuvenated, we all headed through customs, security, and around the airport looking for our gate. The Madrid airport was very interesting. It seemed more like a mini mall than an airport. Most of the stores were jewelry, clothes, and fragrances instead of the typical mini marts and souvenir shops. It was pretty cool and definitely made it more real that I was in Spain. The airport was a maze too. We took many escalators, electric trains, and cool glass elevators to get to our gate. The layover was perfect timing to get through customs, to our gate, and to freshen up in the bathroom. Changing from my PLU sweatshirt and flip flops into nicer clothes and boots affirmed the fact that I am about to embark on a wonderful crazy adventure (but in reality this whole traveling process has been crazy). And in that moment I remembered Proverbs 16:4 (listed above). Amongst the craziness of traveling, long delayed layovers, meeting up with a big group, and my destination of Granada I know that God had a plan for it all. And with that, God has a plan for me here in Granada: to learn and to grow.

After we landed in Granada my roommate Ashley and I got into a taxi (whom the driver drove sooo fast) and reached our home stay residence. We were greeted by our host mom, her daughter, and her infant grandson. Also we were greeted by a family friend, Philipe and abuelas (grandmothers) of the family. From there we were given our rooms and time to unpack and adjust to our home.

After all the craziness of traveling, I finally made it to my destination. And with nothing but more adventures I’m so ready to begin my 2012 year, jterm and spring semester in Spain.