Getting here/first day in Spain!

 I'm finally here! I can't believe it! It was quite a long trip (about 24 total hours of traveling), but I made it. I found it VERY hard to finally leave home and the comforts that come with it (re: bawling in the airport with Dad), but once we said our final goodbyes and I met up with my friend Christian, things started to look up. The first leg of the trip- DC to NYC, was nothing. About an hour long flight. I didn't realize how nice it would be to travel with someone I know! We got some lunch at JFK, had a few-hour layover and then boarded the flight to Brussels, Belgium. I ended up falling asleep for a little while everyone else was boarding (it took FOREVER, apparently there was some "security issue" with a bag they were putting on the  plane- yikes). This was the WORST FLIGHT I've ever been on!! I had a window seat, which I ordinarily like, but in this case it meant being crammed against a freezing cold airplane wall (literally, not kidding, NEGATIVE NINETY TWO degrees outside- there was frost forming on the window) with a young, gross newlywed couple next to me. I did read a considerable portion of The Hunger Games though, which kept me a little sane. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to sleep at all during this eight hour flight because a few hours in, due to the FREEZING temperatures outsides, the entire left side of my body went numb- I'm talking like I thought I had frost bite and was going to have to cut my foot off when I got off the plane. It was MISERABLE. Finally landed in Brussels, thank GOD. Luckily we found some benches in a gate area that we were able to nap on for a few hours (this layover was about 5 hours). We got some food, did a lot of walking around the airport, and then eventually got on the flight to Bilbao. YAY! This was a nice flight- barely anyone on it so we were able to stretch out and get some more rest during this 2 hour flight. We landed, I picked up my 70-pound suitcase from baggage claim (woops, sorry Dad) and we made our way to the woman with the "Deusto" sign waiting for us. A Mercedes Benz van came and dropped us off at our respective dorms. I was able to see a lot of the city on the drive- Chloe you'd die over the mountains here.
Finally made my way to my dorm, got my room assignment and as I was unlocking the door the other girls in my hall must've heard me and they came out to greet me! We went back and forth essentially speaking spanglish to each other. They speak english about as well as I speak Spanish- aka we both have a lot of practice to do. I'm really excited for that though. We talked to for quite a while until they went back to their studying (they have final exams right now- yeah I dunno, I'm confused too) and I decided to go unpack.
My dorm room is small but I'll be able to fit everything just fine. Big desk, 2 decently sized closets with drawers and shelves, a single bed, and my own bathroom (!) --pictures to come. Eventually I had to go down to reception to get an ethernet cord and, true to form, got lost on my way there and on my way back. In my defense though this dorm is REALLY confusing- I'm still kind of scared to leave my room in fear that I won't be able to find my way back AGAIN. Different elevators lead to different floors- for instance, I'm room 510 Izquierda (left), so when I took a different set of elevators to the 5th floor I ended up in a boys' hall. VERY confusing.
Right now I'm still unpacking, tomorrow we have a veryy full day of language placement tests and lots of walking with tours of the city and campus. So I might even go to sleep relatively soon (it's 7:45 pm haha).
Hope this wasn't too boring for my first blog entry! SO excited to be here- can't to explore more and meet more people!
MISS AND LOVE YOU ALL!