Going, going, going...

Hello everyone!! Sorry I have not been able to post much since I was sitting in the Toronto airport for a 6 hour layover. I thought I'd post a fun post about packing, little did I know that I would soon be in a constant state of motion, or so it seems.  Luckily for me, myself and my baggage arrived safely in Madrid with no problems. Thank you everyone for your prayers and crossed fingers, I think they really did the trick.  When I arrived at the airport I had a couple hour wait, anxiously wondering what would happen next.  Luckily I found my ISA (International Studies Abroad-the program I am studying abroad through) representative, Nagore (nuh-gore-ay) without any problems, well besides that she spoke to me in Spanish.  Let me tell you the best time to practice Spanish is not when you just got off a 6 hour plane ride.  She does speak English quite well, but told me I needed to practice my spanish.  I found out the truth of this after arriving at the hotel and noticing my extreme hunger.  Unfortnately the carrot muffin and apple juice on the plane, didn't fill me up for both breakfast and lunch.  The thing about Spain is though, which I will detail more later, is the hours of eating are quite different, as well as the hours of the stores.  So anyways, I needed food, but I was in the middle of Madrid at a hotel that didn't have any food, with no idea where to go.  They told me there was a supermarket around the corner, and so I dared to venture into the unknown (hunger is stronger than fear!). Right around the corner there was a "supermarket", but one has to understand that is Spain, it is really less than what you might find in a small American gas station.  So my choice included some boxed cookies, egg sandwiches, or Special K granola bars.  The man who owned the supermarket rambled off several words to me very quickly, and very much Spanish. All I could seem to come up with was, "Tengo hambre," (I have hunger).  It didn't take him long to realize that I was not from around here and it didn't take me long to realize that I would be in for quite an interesting ride. Accurate, considering since then I have met 20 or so new friends, a new roommate, toured Madrid, tasted various tapas, gazed in the awe of palaces and markets, spent a marvelous time in Toledo; strolling through the narrow streets, having gelato, being in utter awe of beautiful sites, moved into a new home with someone who speaks no english, toured a new city, university, taken many a siestas, and whew. Constantly going, going, going...but more on that to come.