My First Day

So I call it my first day but really it was two. I combine it into one. It has been a really really long day! This might get confusing but I'm going to try and tell about my day. The time is really messing me up.
Tuesday I woke up at 6am central time and mom and I left for the airport at 645am. We got up to MCI around 8 and hung around there til my flight that left at 950. I flew to Chicago which was pretty quick and got there at 11am. My flight didn't leave Chicago until 5pm so I had some time to kill. I talked to a few friends on the airport, got lunch, and hung out by my gate and watched the other study abroaders come in. Finally after one of the most boring afternoons ever I got to board around 445.
We sat on the runway for a long time before we left, we ended up leaving 30-45mins late. However, I had a window seat and no one sat in the seat next to me. I made friends with the aisle guy that was from Illinois and studying in Barcelona but he had tons of friends around him that were all in a group so I didn't talk much. It was a nice 7 & 1/2 hour flight. I got to watch Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (which made me want to go to Greece even more), Harry Potter, Friends, The Office, and listened to plenty of music. Mom, don't worry we did get dinner on the flight. We had some chicken and pasta thing, a roll, salad with feta cheese & cranberries, apple pie and a kit kat. Haha, kind of a random mix. Then we got breafkast at like 5am - weird apple bearclaw.
But we finally got to London around 7am - this would be Jan 7 & London time. (oh and still hadn't talked to any of the USAC people) But once we got to London we had to get to a different terminal and I had to get on a couple shuttles so I just followed other people I recognized in their USAC t-shirts. Then I finally got the nerve and asked if I could follow around. So we walked around the airport, met up with more USAC girls, got lunch/breakfast at 10am and waited for our flight. Tons of other USAC people showed up and we all started talking and figuring out who was going where cause there are 3 different locations.
This flight left at 110pm. So then we had a quick 2 & 1/2 hour flight. The meal this time was a wheat sandwich - half egg mayo & tuna salad and half ham & cheese. We arrived in Madrid at 430pm (Madrid is an hour later than London, so 7 hours later than Kansas). I had met one nice girl named Katie that would be in San Sebastian with me so that was exciting. I had slept through them passing out the customs cards so I met another girl going to San Sebastian, Kelly from NAU, trying to fill out my card in line. We still hadn't seen any USAC people holding signs (which really worried one guy, haha). But we got our luggage & they ended up being outside the baggage area waiting for us - I probably don't have the most luggage, but definitely quite a bit.
So then we took a bus to our hotel and checked in. I'm in a room with Kelly and we'll be here til the 11th. We had a meeting tonight and dinner at 830 (or 20:30)- some noodles filled with spinach covered in cheese, then chicken ON THE BONE AND PURPLE/RED, but then kiwi for dessert - yum!
So now Kelly and I are really worn out so we're just checking the internet and about to go to bed.
Tomorrow we have a walking tour of Madrid - its going to be freezing so that should be fun. This was an extra long update so don't feel obligated to read it all. I miss you all!

More later.
Love, Jill