I'm finally in Madrid!

So as I was about to board the plane from O'Hare to Philly, they tell the last 20 passengers boarding that there's no room for carry ons, and we have to check them in (so basically, that heavy third bag got checked in for free). Luckily, my big backpack has a little detachable daypack on it, so I put my computer/some papers/neck pillow in there and then I "checked" in my huge bag. So although that was nice because I didn't have to deal with it, it was AWFUL when I got here and waited for all the luggage, just to find out that my backpack is still in Philly. It should be getting in on tomorrow mornings flight, so I should have it by noon, and luckily, other than medicines/etc, there wasn't anything too important in that bag (plus I don't really need the big bag until later, when I'm backpacking). OH NO, i just realized my toothpaste/toothbrush were in there; thankfully, I have my Listerine.

So on the last leg of the trip, we got some food on the long plane ride, I talked to these girls from Austin College the whole time (that are going to study in Granada) and because both my TV broke and my reading light couldn't turn off, I couldn't get any sleep. So I got here, finally figured out my backpack stuff (it should be coming in tomorrow...), transferred my money to Euro (120 dollars=84 euro. Blah.) and took a taxi to my host mothers house.

My spanish with the taxi driver was really comfortable, I could both understand and speak, and I was getting pretty confident, but when I arrived at my host mother's house, boy, was I wrong about my Spanish. They speak SO fast, and with their Spanish accent, I'm just terrible at following what they say sometimes. But some good things you'll like to know.

One, although the house is small, it is extremely beautiful and VERY clean, with a GORGEOUS bathroom. Two, my host mother can read english and loves the cook book and has hardly any spices so she is excited to learn how to cook some food. Three, my host brother has internet/router/wi-fi, so I am always connected online, never have to bring my computer to the cyber cafe, and can chat/email/video chat with any of you from the flat. The family seems REALLY nice and they've hosted other Carleton students before so they're already really helpful. Hopefully that keeps up!

Unfortunately, I just realized that my power cord is three pronged and my converter is two pronged (dumb dumb Jojo), so I'm going to save some battery power and hope that these posts keep you all a bit more updated. Thank you for all the comments; I will definitely respond to them when I'm not in such a power crisis!

Love,
Jojo