Has it really been less than a week?

I left for my semester-long study abroad program in Toledo, Spain this past Tuesday, September 6th, and arrived here the morning of the 7th. A lot of what has happened since then has been a tired, confused blur with an undercurrent of pure happiness and excitement. I'll do my best to recount it as cohesively as possible.

I decided to sign up for a group flight to get to know a few of my fellow program members before officially arriving, and I think it's helped foster some fun relationships so far. Even though I barely talked to the two classmates I was sandwiched between on the plane, I've already gotten to know them both better since arriving. I tried my best to sleep on the almost nine-hour flight but probably got about an hour or so of actual sleep. I did, however, watch Dirty Dancing at the beginning of the flight, and I can say with extreme confidence that it is the perfect airplane movie.

After touching down, a bus picked us up from the airport and drove us about an hour to the city of Toledo, where we dropped our luggage off with a smaller van that could fit through the small streets inside the walled part of the city. We had to walk about four minutes from the bus to our fundación, the center where our classes will be held. Lunch was especially quiet, with everyone exhausted from a full day of traveling. After that, we had a quick information session with the administrators, and then those of us in homestays were able to meet our host families.

I don't know what I expected when I signed up to do a homestay, but so far my family has been nothing but lovely. My host family consists of my host mother, my host father, and my sixteen-year-old host sister, who I can already tell is way too cool for me. My host mother picked me up from the fundación and brought me back to her apartment, where we dropped off my luggage and she showed me around my new home. She showed me how to get to school on the bus, and then we walked back to the apartment to get a feel for that as well. My host dad loaded my plate up with dinner the first night and asked me questions about myself, and I asked them all questions in return. My host mom complimented my Spanish skills, which gave me a little bit of a confidence boost as I'm still trying to navigate the complexities of the European dialect of Spanish.

The following day, I arrived at the fundación where we took a language evaluation so the administrators could assess the level each student stood at. Later, we confirmed our classes in individual meetings with teachers. I spent a lot of time in these first few days wandering around with some new friends, and according to my iPhone, I've been getting upwards of 20,000 steps each day so far. I stopped at a restaurant with some classmates to partake in some sangria before returning to the building for a meeting about safety and a welcome dinner with tapas, tortilla, flan, and other excellent Spanish food.

Friday, we started the day with a bus tour outside of Toledo, and they brought us to a scenic overlook of the city which absolutely took my breath away. After, we dismounted the bus to do a guided walking tour of the city. I learned so many interesting facts about the city that made me even more excited to be there in the first place. For example, the city is over 2,500 years old and there are 80 churches within the walled part of the city alone. Friday evening, I explored some nightlife with other folks in the program, which was extremely fun.

So far I've spent most of the rest of the weekend relaxing and recovering from the travel, excitement, and overwhelmingness of being in a new country with complete strangers. It feels like cheating in a way to say that If this week was the only time that I would spend here, I would be okay with that. I'm lucky enough to be getting to spend three more months here, and I absolutely cannot wait for what's to come.