¿como se dice jet lag en español?

Well I made it to Barcelona! But just to warn you this may be a very interesting blog due to my current state... have you ever experienced the unique combination of lack of sleep, changes in time zone and severe over-caffeination? That's what I'm feeling right now and let me tell you it's a rather strange sensation. Haha.

I feel like I'm officially a seasoned world traveler now... after a six hour layover in Philadelphia filled with intense people watching, an unsuccessful Starbucks hunt and getting kicked out of the Brookstone store for sitting in the massage chairs for too long (why do they even bother to put them there if they don't want you to use them?? Seriously), I took one of those amazing NyQuil pills and slept like a baby for the majority of the flight (save for the solid hour in which an actual baby was screaming a few rows ahead of me). I then milled around in the Heathrow airport for an hour or so, of course spending the most time in the awesome toy store. :) Forget Harrod's and Coach. I then boarded my connecting flight with all these ambitious plans to review spanish for the next three hours... before conking out unexpectedly and waking up fifteen minutes before landing in Barcelona. Whoops.

But anyway... the city is beautiful! I don't think I'm fully grasping the fact that I am actually here just quite yet... maybe I'll get to that once my body figures out what time zone it's in. After getting off the plane I followed the huge, idiot-proof green line to the baggage claim, snatched up my bag sin problemas and directed our taxi driver to the Hotel Colón, where my fellow Cádiz goers and I are currently residing checking our emails courtesy of the hotel's free wireless. We're quite a sight to see I'm sure... a group of slightly disheveled, sleep-deprived Americans typing away on our computers. But don't get the wrong idea... we spent about three hours exploring the city right after arriving. We strolled down the main street, La Rambla, took touristy pictures of the beautiful architecture and saw the port before coming back here to crash. But I AM resisting the urge to nap. Some of my fellow classmates haven't been so successful... our numbers are dwindling as people head off to rest before dinner at 8:00. Something tells me I am going to sleep very, very well tonight.

Well, that's all for now. Over and out!

A note for Allison Jones (I promised I would!): Um... so our first Tourista Barista coffee attempt was an epic fail. Amy and I got all excited, selected the coffee shop and eagerly placed our orders... only to be served a cup of ice accompanied by a black americano concoction minus cream or sugar. We tried to salvage it with some little sketchy packs of what we thought was sugar before chucking it and going to the Starbucks across from our hotel. We'll get better, promise.

tomorrow??!!??

So I recently became obsessed with downloading widgets onto my Mac dashboard and one of my favorites (apart from the virtual roller coaster that actually screams... it's cool, don't judge) is the countdown calendar. About that... I swear it seems like just the other day it read 50 something + days until Spain... NOW IT SAYS ONE. :) YAY!

So I'm new to this whole blogging thing. I was a bit hesitant to make one partly because I've always been absolutely terrible at/seriously loathed those soul-searching questionnaires like "describe yourself in three words" and just general all about myself things, which I kind of associate with blogging. But on second thought, I figured it might be cool to be able to share my trip with my friends and family (plus my mom wants constant confirmation that I am still alive and well... so that definitely factored into the creation of this here blog). I figured I should post my first entry before I leave the comfort of my Lovett AirNet wireless just in case for some reason the whole let's sit in the plazas in Cádiz and use the free WiFi on our laptops thing falls through. That would result in the most pitiful blog ever so at least now it'll definitely have one entry.

Plus writing on here marks me actually doing something with my life today other than watching Gilmore Girls, inhaling copious amounts of Port City Java coffee (I've gotta store up, it's going to be five weeks before I have it again) and obtaining a large bruise on my leg from falling during an intense struggle with my suitcase while bouncing up and down on top of it in an attempt to zip it shut. But I won in case you were wondering. I do believe that I am packed and ready to go... somehow during this past week the explosion of stuff around my room (that warranted a fair amount of contempt and nagging from the parental units) made its way into my suitcase and new North Face backpack (I figured the L.L. Bean monogrammed backpack I've had since middle school might not be the best European travel pack... it's been retired now.)

So now all I've got to do is actually make it to Spain! I'm leaving Wilmington tomorrow morning, flying to Philadelphia, then to London and then arriving in Barcelona on Sunday around lunch time. Next time I write I guess I'll be in Cádiz! ¡Hasta luego!