Hello Readers!
Today I spent my first day in Spain, and since I flew all night and rode trains and cabs for half of the day today I am a little sleep-deprived so forgive me if some of my comments seen a little eccentric.  When I arrived at RDU, my travels did not start off so well.  Most airlines have a 50 lb. limit on checked items, and well, my bag was 56 lbs.  Instead of opting to pay the $150 charge for having an overweight bag (robbery!!) I decided to open my suitcase in the middle of the airport and rearrange a few things.  After the removal of a couple of pairs of shoes,a flat iron, and a hair dryer, my bag was 51 lbs, and the young woman working the counter let it slide; she must have thought that I had super cute shoes.  After that little mishap, the rest of the trip continued without a hitch.  I flew to Philadelphia and met up with other program participants and we all flew to Madrid together.  From there, we had to take the bullet train to Seville.  Since we had been flying all night, all of us girls looked, as I like to call it, like a "hot mess express."  So, as soon as we set foot in that train station, checked bags were flung open and make up bags and toiletry kits were whipped out.  We left our good friend Max, who is a guy and doesn't have the problem of looking like a train wreck after being on a plane for 7 hours, to watch ALL of our bags (we owe him for that one).  After we left Max on guard duty, we rushed into the only bathroom the train terminal seemed to have and dominated.  We tried to utilize as little space as possible, but I'm sure we got the judgment face from several locals.  After that, we boarded the train, which completely reminded me of the Hunger Games; I felt like I was about to be whisked off to the Capital. Analogies aside, we arrived in Seville two and a half hours later.  Instead of taking naps like the rest of our colleagues, a couple of friends and I decided to walk around Seville and see what this gorgeous town was like.  After that, we had a group meeting where our advisors gave us a little introduction about the program we would be participating in.  Tonight, everyone is sitting in the lobby of the hotel (since that is the ONLY place we seem to get wi fi) typing like madmen either booking trips, chatting with friends, or blogging like me.  Since I am about to pass out in this nice comfy chair I'm writing from, I'm going to take that as a sign that I need to turn in for the night.  Chao!

Above: This is the bullet train that we took from Madrid to Seville that reminded me of the Hunger Games;