Barcelona study abroad Summer 2011: Day 1/Arrival & first day in Spain

hey hey,

so, I arrived in Barcelona around 12 noon Spain, so 6am to all my friends back on the East Coast. Dulles was freakishly crowded and on top of that, I had never been there before so it made the whole experience a little but overwhelming, but I arrived to my destination in one piece with all of my luggage so I am extremely grateful. The Dulles airport was very confusing, and we took these futuristic monster buses with the cabins about 15-20 feet high from the baggage check to the security check and terminals. I rode an Irish airline plane (Aer Lingus) from DC to Madrid, and it was the biggest plane that i've ever been on. It was green and had a shamrock on the tail. The flight attendants all wore green outfits and the pilots had thick Irish accents, almost sounding like leprechauns when speaking over the intercom. There was a TV in the back of each headrest with on-demand movies, television, music, and music videos ALL FOR FREE...I think (Sorry dad!)? Luckily, I was able to get some sleep (thanks Tylenol PM), but not enough. The Madrid airport was nice and big, but confusing because there was not a lot of English being spoken and I was riding solo so I had to put on my big boy britches and act like a grown-up. The security line was moving a little slow in Madrid, and I was exhausted because of the time difference and the lack of sleep. However, I was very excited to get my passport stamped internationally for the first time! To avoid getting lost, I discretely followed two of the honeymooning Americans on my Irish flight and they got me where I needed to be. The Madrid airport was HUGE, with the longest and most amount of runways that I have ever seen. And the nearby land was really cool with some small mountains nearby and really cool houses you could see from the airport. But it was nothing compared to the Barcelona airport. It was HUGE and is only 2 years old. The real sights were right outside of the Barcelona airport though. The Mediterranean sea was a beautiful blue color and you could see a lot of the city from the plane, as well as the port with the cruise ships and lots of the city. My eyes were wide open on the cab ride from the airport to my apartment just trying to take in a lot of the sights and the differences in culture. When I got to my apartment, 3 of my 4 roommates were already here and the CEA housing program respondent helped me get settled in and explained to me some logistics. There are 5 of us total in the apartment, and from what I hear, we have one of the nicer apartments in the program, with a deck/porch overseeing the street. Of all the chances and nervousness that I had going into this trip, my mind was blown and I instantly gained some comfort when I found out one of my 4 roommates is a Hokie! What a small world! Apparently, there are about 70 people on the program, which is way more than my guesstimate of about 30. Not as off as my roommate though, who guessed there were 300 people coming haha. Luckily, today we are just hanging out and doing stuff on our own, and then we start bright and early tomorrow with orientation, classes, city bus tour, and a welcome reception. I am SO thankful and grateful to be here and hopefully I keep an open-mind for the whole trip and take advantage of these opportunities. Alright, well i'm gonna stop being antisocial and start mingling with the roomies and guests.