The flight was long and I didn't get any sleep. I was so glad to hear the announcement saying we would be landing in a few minutes! That excitement was short lived, however, when the plane started jostling around. I felt like everything was spinning and actually started to feel a little sick by the end of it. The woman sitting next to me noticed I looked a little out of it and asked if I was ok. When I told her how I was feeling, she immediately went into protective mother mode and decided it would be her job to take care of me until I got out of the airport. I really feel like this experience was the foundation that the rest of this trip will be built on, and from that moment on I've found nothing but helpful people everywhere I turn.
The woman, I later found out her name is Teresa, stayed on the plane with me until it cleared out enough to get my bag from the overhead storage, then walked off the plane with me and located her husband. She told him she wanted to walk with me to the baggage claim to make sure I would be alright and he was eager to accompany me as well. She linked arms with me and that's how we walked, chatting the whole way. I learned that they're from Portugal and were heading back after a vacation in Charleston, South Carolina. I also learned that her husband was an economics professor at USC! How crazy is that? When we got to baggage claim her husband told me to just point out my bags and he would take care of the rest. They wanted to know how I was planning on getting to Salamanca from Madrid and I told them I had a friend waiting for me at the airport that would take care of everything. That seemed to make Teresa feel much better about us parting ways, but she still didn't want to leave me until she was absolutely sure that my friend was there. Before we said goodbye she gave me her cell number and her e-mail address, telling me that if I ever want to visit Portugal and want to visit her or need anything to contact her. I couldn't believe how friendly and helpful she was; the whole experience made me feel much better about this trip.
I really don't think I've encountered a single rude person here so far. As soon as I walked in the door to Cristina's apartment I was given food and shown my room so I could finally get some rest. It was quite intimidating to go from the airport, where both Teresa and James spoke English, to being thrust into this apartment where no one spoke anything but Spanish. I was so tired from the flight and train ride and flustered by the speed with which they were talking to me and offering me various food products that I'm sure I must have looked like a deer in headlights at some point. After my nap I finally met Cristina and two other American girls. One of them, Joanne, is staying in Cristina's apartment with me but is studying in a different school. The other, Samantha, is staying in a different apartment but we're going to the same University. The girls are great and we've walked all over Salamanca together over the past few days. Cristina is one of the sweetest, most patient people I've ever met. She's truly wonderful and I'm so grateful to be staying with a woman like her! She did have trouble with my name though. Apparently Brittany is a hard name for people here to grasp. When I asked James how to make it sound more Hispanic to help them out, he just told me to say "like Britney Spears." Well I tried that and it didn't go as well as I'd hoped. When I said "como Britney Spears," the response I got was "y que significa es Britney Spears?" She had no idea who I was talking about! I thought everyone knew about Britney Spears, but apparently I was mistaken.
Tomorrow the real work begins. My classes start at 9:00am and go till 1:00. I'm a little nervous, but if all of the professors are like the one that proctored my test today then I should have nothing to worry about. Tomorrow is also when the fun begins. Joanne, Samantha, and I are going to start taking dance classes and the first one is tomorrow night! I'm super excited, I haven't danced in so long, but we'll see how dance classes starting at 11:00pm mesh with 9:00am classes. I'll let you guys know how it goes!
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