Following the Sun across the Sea

When I left Philadelphia about 24 hours ago, the sun was setting, and when I arrived to Frankfort 8 hours later, the sun was dawning in the German sky. So pretty, and appropriate in a corny symbolic way. I slept little on the transcontinental flight even though I had a whole row of seats to myself and was moderately comfortable. I believe this was because of the ‘chicken or pasta?’ dilemma that they let us think about for 2 hours before dinner was served. I chose chicken. It was decent but I still wondered if the pasta was better. However, I managed to rest enough to be awake and alert for my 3-hour layover in Frankfort. Then I passed out on the plane to Bilbao.  When I finally woke up, we were beginning our decent into Spain and the old man with a cane next to me said, ‘española’? To which I of course replied ‘no’ and we had a semi-successful conversation in Spanish. Since he was from Bilbao, I figured I would ask if he knew how to take the bus to Santander. He advised me that taking a taxi to the bus station would be the easiest way, and helped me to do so. My suitcase also arrived without a problem and I was able to withdraw euros with my ATM card. My taxi driver wanted to practice his English, so I spent the 15-minute cab ride saying ‘mhmm’ and pretending to understand him. The lady selling bus tickets also wanted to practice her English and caused me to panic when she told me it would be 72. It was actually 7.20 and I would appreciate if the Spanish would speak to me in Spanish! I took another cab to my homestay and suddenly everyone was indeed speaking to me in Spanish. I understood enough to make it through introductions and engage in polite small talk, and she gave me soup and eggs and ham for lunch, which was good, but way too much for me to eat. I have a tiny blue room that is quite cute, the apartment is nice and clean, and the water pressure is good in the shower. I slept most of the afternoon, and woke up for dinner around 9. We had salad and hot dogs and mashed potatoes, which was good but too much again. My only minor issue is that there is about 1 square foot of space with internet access (stolen from a neighbor) in the apartment. I’m going to look into getting a modem. It is a bit of an issue that I cannot look up maps or anything since I need to find my way to the office of international relations tomorrow to pay for my orientation. But I’m sure I will find it somehow. I just hope that I can sleep tonight, considering all of my napping today.