I've arrived! After many hours of flying, walking, and riding in the bus I am finally in Caceres. My roommate Ginny and I are are getting all settled into our new home. It has been a day full of adventures but I am so glad to be here!

The morning started off great, easy flight from Cedar Rapids, a surprise visit from Danielle and Shaheed and meeting someone who ended up making my morning even better. While I was going though security, I met an older man named Dan from San Diego. We started talking and continued our conversation into the terminal while we waited for our flight. Dan had a daughter that studied in Italy so he spent some time filling me in on travel tips and places to go see. We parted ways after we arrived in Chicago, but he later found me in a bookstore in Chicago. He took my hand and slipped something in it. He told me that if he never saw me again, he wanted to make sure I had a great, safe trip. He said that he enjoyed talking to me and thought that I was a wonderful young woman. He wanted to "pay it forward" to someone who I guess he thought was worth the time. He said not to think it was strange what he was doing, but that he just wanted to be nice. We said goodbye again and when I opened my hand there was a $100 bill in it. You can say that this encounter definitely made my morning that much better, as well as gave me some time to think about how important it is to treat those around you the way that you would want to be treated.

I then flew into Miami and onto to Madrid. The plane rides were fairly quick and easy, and thanks to my dad, I was lucky enough to sit up in first class. Trust me, this is not something I do all the time, so it was a real treat to actually be able to enjoy the flight. My 6 hour flight from Miami to Madrid flew by with my 3 course dinner and being woken up to a warm breakfast. After arriving in Madrid, it was time to get down to business. Since I was traveling alone, I had to go through customs by myself as well as take the bus from Terminal 4 to Terminal 1 to meet with my group some Iowa State. I was doing great in the beginning and all of my luggage made it safely, but using the bus was a little more of an adventure. I found the station fine, but once I got on I had a moment of panic as we rode 15 minutes away from the airport. I watched at the planes got smaller and smaller until, to my relief, we turned back around and headed to the right terminal. It seemed a little crazy to go that far out of town to just circle to the airport but I guess it was the only way to do so.

I found my group in the food court and at about 2:00 we took the bus to Caceres. It was about a 4.5 hour ride but it went quickly as many of us slept and talked about what we hoped to do while we were here.

Ginny and I were picked up by our new mom, Carmen, who insists we call her Mommy. She has a lovely home with her daughter and dog Paula. It is a very quaint home with a nice yard, garden, marble floors and a room with two beds for Ginny and I to share. "Mommy" is a very very sweet woman who I would guess to be in her late 50's. She was a secondary school teacher here in Caceres and has such a warm heart and a good sense of humor.

Tonight we will be heading out to do a walking tour of the town. Looking forward to seeing what there is to do, as well as unpack and get a good nights sleep.

That's it for now. Talk to you soon!