Día Uno: Heladería

Traveling on my own for the first time was slightly difficult. There was no one to talk to, only waiting to be done. I had to contemplate my unknown experiences on my own. But other than that, everything went fine. My six hour flight to London was difficult to sleep through, so I watched movies, which turned out to be pretty awful for jetlag. I arrived in Heathrow at 8am, after having left the US at 8pm. Goodbye, twelve hours of my life. Luckily, I happened to be seated next to two very friendly British boys on my flight from Heathrow to Madrid. They were on their way to Cuba because they were not ready to start at University. When I arrived in Madrid, I was extremely confused. The airport is a straight hallway, but it takes forever to get from gate to gate. It took me 20 minutes to get from my gate to the gate I needed to be at. I met some other girls from my program at the gate and we waited for our flight into Seville. Upon arriving in Seville, we were greeted at the gate and taken to the hotel. From there, our group leaders shuffled us to the pool area where we had a meet and greet. Sangria all around. It was beautiful to watch the city as the sun set. After the meet and greet, Oscar, one of the guides took us out for ice cream. In order to get to the ice cream shop, we had to walk through Plaza Nueva, where he warned us to stay close to him. Sevilla Futbol Club had won the King's Cup the night before, and there were people everywhere rioting. Something beautiful about Spain, there is no 'open container law', so everyone was carrying 40s. At the ice cream shop, Oscar advised me to get 'limon con hierbabuena', which is lemon ice cream with spearmint. I was feeling brave and adventurous after my day of no sleep and traveling, so I decided to give it a shot. Limo con hierbabuena is now my new favorite flavor. After ice cream, some people headed out to the bars, but I went back to the hotel and crashed by 1am. I was absolutely exhaused, and breakfast the next morning was at 8.