1st DAY

Today has been crazy!
Today really is composed of 2 days; I left Saturday at noon in Texas & arrived in Madrid at 3 AM (Texas time), 10 AM Madrid time on Sunday (today) AND now it's around 2:30 PM.

That flight was realllllllly rough. It is so IMPOSSIBLE to sleep on planes. I sat next to a friendly male studying Archaeology in Mallorca. We watched We Bought a Zoo, which wasn't that bad for the low expectations set on air planes (+ Matty D) & the awful Midnight in Paris (awful because I've seen it before with slightly higher expectations & the acting is straight up atrocious in that movie- sorry if you liked it - the Hemingway component is great!)

ANYWAY, ANYWAY- upon descending, it was soooo amazing because you just see vineyard after vineyard. I've never seen anything like it. Tons of little trees perfectly spaced out in thousands of grids.

The airport was overwhelming- many a faux pas if you know me, but I made it to the API table! And met a bunch of people. Five were from UT and were all going to Seville. I met my future apartment roommate, Josh from Boston, and I meet the girl soon! As she will be dropped off from the airport a n y minute to share this cute and quaint hotel room with me.

 --- speaking of my idiocy & exhaustion, I COULD NOT FIGURE OUT HOW TO TURN ON THE ELECTRICITY IN MY  HOTEL ROOM! I knew it was somewhere, and like Ace Ventura on the PC game, I tried so hard to find clues, but nothing worked. Found out that you put the room key in the little square thing by the door entrance (which I had previously pushed furiously to try to make SOMETHING work). So lesson learned: don't make the same mistake I did and feel like a defeated moron. ---

It is very, very close to Puerta del Sol, which is this grand plaza in Madrid that is beautiful and has tons of stores, bars, and restaurants. There are so many people here. It's amazing how many people dress up and do acts on the street for photos and tips. They will be on my video in a day or two. It's UNBELIEVABLE.

The Madrid API group and I all ate lunch there at an outdoor restaurant. It was beautiful, and we people watched in awe.

We are all quite exhausted, and now I write in my hotel room awaiting the meet up with my future and current roomie! THEN shower, nap, orientation, dinner, & bar hopping in Puerta del Sol! I hope Javi & I get to meet up. My current lack of local phone is a bit of a problem that I will fix as soon as I find this legendary Orange company...

Will update again soonish-
!