the first 24 hours

After a bone shaking flight on the smallest plane I've ever boarded from Chattanooga to Charlotte, I met up with 6 of my 7 fellow travelers that I will be spending my first two weeks with: Rob, Brad, Sammi, Nick, Jason, and Sam (Alejandro was a new addition that none of us knew about until last week and have never spoken to and we aren't entirely sure if he actually made it or not...however, we assume due to his name that he will be fine and will find his way to Pamplona without incident. We also recognize that this may be a form of racial profiling, but that didn't stop us from entertaining ourselves with a little game we like to call "¿Dónde está Alejandro?").

Finding each other was quite the adventure, and after accidentally introducing myself to 5 different people that were wearing "a dark gray shirt and jeans," I finally found the right one. After that I developed quite a keen sense for spotting our other compatriots (generally one would be standing awkwardly by a trash can and looking around intermittently between shooting a text to someone), and soon the group was assembled and sat down for lunch in the terminal. 

Our flight was long and rather uneventful. Sleeping was nearly impossible, but I nabbed a little shuteye in between the captain's announcements to (for our safety) "please keep your seatbelt fastened while seated." 

Our flight landed early, and after the longest taxi of my life--I think we may have actually landed in a nearby city and then drove the remaining miles to Madrid--we finally disembarked and headed to get a quick stamp on our passports and to find the nearest aseos to freshen up and relieve our bladders. Fortunately all our luggage arrived without incident, and then it was off to find our bus. We journeyed from T1 on to T4, and I am ashamed to admit that our first stop after we had located our departure point was the all too familiar Golden Arches... 

We got a good laugh out of the menu, a McFish featured alongside a McPollo, and our ordering in nervous and broken Spanish provided us some small entertainment to distract us from our weariness and dehydration induced headaches. 

We had some serious time to kill before the bus rolled out for Soria, so we made camp in a corner and I was introduced to a new card game called Eucher. This is possibly the strangest card game I have ever encountered. Cards change suits and the Jack is often higher than an Ace, but only if it is a certain color. I still don't entirely understand what was going on, but my team won so I figured I was doing O.K. 

On the first leg of the bus ride, sleep wouldn't come even though my head and eyes were begging for it, so instead I settled in to watch a Spanish subtitled cartoon about a disgruntled, albino, Chinese, Kung-Fu master peacock who had previously been exiled and now was planning his revenge on the whole kingdom of China. My brain was too fatigued at the time to find that combination odd. 

I woke up in Soria to our driver telling us that the bus on the right would continue on to Pamplona in five minutes. I was relieved to realize I'd finally slept, and then immediately concerned that five minutes would not be a sufficient amount of time to navigate the melee of people trying to switch their luggage to the next bus and find the restrooms. Bus two took us through the Spanish country side past idyllic houses in La Rioja. Beautiful. Whirling wind turbines dotted many of the higher ridges, looking like giant cousins to the wild flowers scattered along the hillsides.  There is something majestic about those huge structures. 

We passed Parques Solares de Navarra, and other smaller installments of solar fields. Old ruins of once ornate houses and new modern buildings were mixed together haphazardly along the roadside in some areas, and somehow the juxtaposition of all this had a strange allure to it. 

The real adventure began once we arrived in Pamplona.  We had now reached the unscripted portion of our journey: taxi cabs.  This was the point where we all split up, and we were all rather reluctant to do so.  It was especially comforting when I handed my driver my address and he stared at it for a long while in contemplative confusion, pulled out a map, said "ah, si...", and then after a few more minutes of contemplation took off in what I hoped was the correct direction. 

I arrived safely in the home of Narea and Rubén and chatted to the best of my ability about the trip and a little about home and what they do and things in Pamplona and school.  I think I did well for the most part and they were very sweet and encouraging to me.  "Poco a poco" is their favorite phrase for me and their confidence that I am going to love my time here and learn so much was reassuring.  Their "very quiet dog" turns out to be my size, but he is a sweet and beautiful pup named Taco.  We are already fast friends :) 

My companions seem friendly and smart and nerdy and I think we will all get on just fine. I'm one of two girls here so far and I'm definitely the baby. The majority of them are rising seniors, and one a rising junior. I hope they can handle six weeks of my weirdness... We are mostly spread out around the city, but I'm sure once we get our bearings a little more we will be just fine.  I'm so excited to be here and so looking forward to what is to come.  All the best to those stateside!