Wednesday morning (January 31, 2018) , I arrived to O’hare at 7:45 am. As I went through security, it was brought to my attention I was given the wrong boarding pass. After returning to security with the right boarding pass, I spent 2 hours waiting to get on a flight to New York—where I met a wonderful lady right before boarding and talked about studying abroad. After I arrived to JFK airport, I had to spend my time wisely. Within the 9.5 hour layour, I completed my online course assignments, talked to a French citizen who spent the last 10 months traveling across North America. After boarding my flight to Lisbon, Portugal from FJK, I was given an amazing flying buddy. He moved to New York from Australia four years ago and now is taking a 2 week trip to Munich with two of his friends. I have never met anyone who was so like me. It’s crazy to think about a randomized seating assignment can impact a 6.5 hour. We arrived to Lisbon 15 minutes late.  Now it is February 1st, 2017. (Oh, on my flight to New York, I was sitting across two little kids who fought the whole time and a crying baby right next to me for the last half of the flight to Portugal). This only allowed me 10 minutes to get off of one plane, go through security again, and board my next flight. Due to the amazing hospitality of employees at Lisbon, Airpot, I  as along with many other travelers made it to our flight just on time. During this chaotic time, I met my roommate as well as another fellow peer. After arriving to Seville, Spain, we went picked up our bags and went through customs all within 20 minutes. As my taxi, and my roommate’s taxi arrived to my homestay neighborhood, we drove through downtown Sevilla. Due to the unclear direction of where our homestay was, I was forced to ask a stranger for help. As some may know, I hate asking people for help. However, this man was so kind that he helped my roommate and me to our homestay, helped carry our luggage, and waited until our homestay mom responded to us saying she is coming down. After entering my homestay, we took a small resting break and then headed over to our school. At orientation, I met so many wonderful students from all across the U.S. We had a tour and partook in a ice breaker. It became time to return to our homestay. Upon coming home, my roommate and I decided to unpack before eating. Little did I realize, I accidentally locked the keys to the locks on my suitcases into one of my suitcases. I called my dad who said I would have to go get the locks broken off, but my homestay mom, Marta, worked some magic with a hair pin and opened the lock! We then had a pasta soup with veggies on the side (not pictured). My first meal in Seville absolutely fantastic. 

After eating, I finished unpacking and cleaned up my room. I also gave Marta her present, a Chicago mug and Frango mints.

 That being said, now matter how chaotic life may get, just remember how important it is to realize how the little things in life impact us so positively.