Arrival Story

It has already been 9 days since I got to Spain! IES orientation (which began the day after I arrived in Spain) has been very packed, y por eso I have been very exhausted. (apologies for using Spanglish. I am practicando español)

My journey to Spain was long and rough. From Incheon (South Korea) to Amsterdam to Madrid! Because I had 12 hrs transit at Amsterdam, I stayed at a hotel in the airport.

I was dead tired, but couldn’t fall asleep because I was too excited for Spain. My biggest worry before departure was finding “Punto de Encuentro” in Barajas Airport, the place where we all meet with IES staffs for a bus ride to Salamanca. After collecting my bags, I walked over to Terminal 1. Predeparture information booklet has a good description of where “Punto de Encuentro” is.  It is between arrival room 1 and 2 and across from the cafeteria. It took me about 15 min from the baggage claim area to Punto de Encuentro.  (The booklet also mentions that Punto de E “is identified by a huge blue square on the ceiling,” but I and some others couldn’t find huge blue square)

When the bus arrived at Salamanca, host families were waiting for us. My host mom kissed me on the cheeks I am very happy with my new room.

It has a big window through which I can get a good view of Salamanca’s orange-brown roofed houses. My host mom is a very sweet lady. She calls me her niña, (gently) wakes me up when I turn my alarm off & sleep in (which I almost always do), cooks me awesome Spanish foods, and also cooks me rice every single meal because she knows that Koreans have rice everyday =)

I have the feeling that this semester will go by super fast!