First day

Well here I am sitting at my friends house in Alcala De Henares Spain. I finally got everything more or less set up and I'm less freaking out. Lol It's nice to finally be back with a good friend, but I'm not totally sure how I feel being away from home. To be honest it still kinda feels like I'm back serving a mission again and will be here for another 2 years instead of just 2 weeks.





It's late Monday here and my trip here was kinda crazy. My dad took me to the airport around 8 in the morning so I could get everything set up and ready to go with the flights and so on. We had a nice talk about a lot of stuff going on right now. It was actually nice cause it's been so long since we have had one of those. He dropped me off at my gate and I set out on my way. I've decided that I don't really like traveling alone that much anymore. I would really like to have a travel buddy next time I go somewhere thats far far away. I boarded the plane to atlanta and sat next to a guy that was in the army heading out for a tour in Iraq, and a girl that was heading to Germany with her family cause her dad was in the army. She was gonna be there for about 3 years. That brought back memories of the first time I came here and how weird it felt to know that I wouldn't see my family for so long. She was at least with her family which was a plus. There were actually only stopping in Atlanta to get her dog, then heading to Germany. I can honestly say I'm glad I'm not going through that whole process again. I'm only here for a short period of time then I get to go back and be with my family and friends again in a place that is familiar to me. Anyway I found my next gate and since I had a little over 3 hours before I would board I decided to just walk around. It's always a bit of a culture shock when you get out of Utah. Even though I'm the least Utahn Utahn there is out there, sometimes you just forget what it's like outside of the bubble. I sat down at a table just wanting to watch the game that was on and I got asked for my Id multiple times which I always think is funny. They always look at my age and are like no way!





The time finally came for me to leave the U.S. for a couple weeks and I boarded the plane. I sat next to a nice guy from Texas that was taking his family over to visit a brother that he hasn't seen in a long time. We talked it up some about Spain and what we had hoped to do while we are here. His family and him from what it sounded like during our conversation are leaving the same time I do Saturday morning next week. So I'm sure I will be seeing them again when I get ready to go home. The flight over was kinda crazy long. I forgot how bad it was. Luckily I was in a window seat and had some decent leg room for the almost 9 hour flight. I alway love going over the ocean though I remember the first time I came here, when we all saw that it was total darkness outside but yet could see sun in the horizon. It was just as cool this time. I've had my doubts about coming here(I didn't really wanna leave on other trip so soon, but I think that was just the nerves getting to me. We landed and it was on! and by it was on I mean I got lost in a huge airport in a foreign country for almost 3 hours, my ticket said I would be dropped off in terminal 2 so I told my friend that was coming to get me that, that's where I would be. Well they dropped me off in terminal 1, which isn't totally far away but since it was a big place and I had no idea where I was going I did what any boy scout would do and walked around till I got more lost. Finally I was about to break down and just give up, go get a hotel for the night and get some internet so I could let my friend know where I was(my phone doesn't work over here) but I decided I would sit down for a few more minutes and see what happens.

Not ten minutes after I sat down and kept that little prayer in my heart did I find Monica and her brother Javi, well they found me. They had been doing the same thing I was. Walking around trying to find me. It was great fun. We got me a taxi and started heading back to their home in Alcala de Henares where I will be staying for the next 2 weeks. We got there got my bags set up in one of the rooms and was immediately feed by Monica's mom...Who I never actually got he name of, and I'm not sure if I actually ever will lol. She is a really nice lady who sat me down made me eat and then introduced me to the grandma. Who is also awesome. I kinda needed Monica to come home from work, so I could get my internet working, I mean it's nice to be here away from it all, but it's nice to be able to talk to people too. So I pretty much just chilled with the family for a few hours till she got back. She got me all hooked up and I sent some messages out to people on facebook and then we left. We met up with a friend of hers and went and ate some tapas, which is basically just a fancy word for food you get at a bar. It was actually really good! I knew the friend Mariana before when I was here for my mission, but it was a little different this time. I got to give besos which is something I will have to get used to but oh well. After we ate we talked some till she had to leave, Monica and I walked around for a while just talking and trying to figure out what I'm gonna do the rest of my time here. She is leaving on the 16 to go to a conference in Denmark so I will kinda be on my own for a day here. Which isn't too bad at all. It actually looks like I will be spending a lot of the time here with her. Which will be way nice, cause I was worried that I would be by myself a lot. Which I'm ok with, but not totally ok with when I'm in a different country. So I'm happy for that. Then We came home and here I am. Writing about my day.

I'll have to be honest though, I was really looking forward to this trip till the last couple days and especially when I was on the plane. I'm not totally sure why, but I kinda felt like I was leaving a lot behind that I didn't want to at that moment. I haven't really been home much in the last 2 weeks because I went to Florida for work, and then came back for only a week before I took off again to come to Spain. I have a great girlfriend even though I don't really seem to give her the credit for it. I really wish she was here. I miss her tons and it's only the first day. I have my own place now which I really just enjoy sitting there and doing nothing sometimes. It's a nice change from when I was living with a bunch of guys. I really think it comes down to the fact though that having this much time on my hands is really gonna make me think about things I've been thinking about for a while. Things at home, my personal life, work and school. Things I think I came here to get away from, but they have come with me and I'm glad. I also think there is a bit of home sickness. I felt like a missionary again when I first landed and kinda didn't wanna be here. don't get me wrong, I loved my mission, but the idea of being away from my home for another 2 years kinda hit me hard. I'm glad I can now do all the things I couldn't do before. Well it's late and I'm off to bed. I'm gonna try and update every day with new adventures here in this great country that I have learned to love. Buenas noches!