My final packets have been made available on my student portal through ISA!!!!!

With less than 2 weeks until I leave U.S. soil, I was getting anxious to know my housing assignment along with the details of our Madrid/Toledo excursions. Upon arrival in Madrid, ISA will pick all the program participants up from the airport during two time windows, and take us to a hotel to rest/freshen up for our evening tour of the city. We’ll have a meeting our first evening to help with culture shock, and then it’s off to bed because the next day is chalk full of touring! After a busy day in Madrid, the next morning we will depart for Toledo, an old city to the south. The following morning we leave for Valencia to meet our host families!!

Speaking of which, another item included in my final packet was the housing assignment list. ISA provides us with the addresses of all the participants so we can find our way to each other’s homes while staying in Valencia. I’ve already looked up my home; 10 minutes from the University of Valencia, and 15 minutes to the beach!!!!

With my host family I’ll share a room with another student from the U.S. who is also part of the Valencia program. I’m so looking forward to meeting new people, both from the U.S. and natives of Spain!
Along with all this exciting information, ISA also provided a final departure list of things we need to have on our person when arriving in Madrid. Most of this is paperwork and information, but I sure do love a good checklist 🙂 
Looking at the flight list, there isn’t anyone from the ISA program on my flights, so I’ll have to wait until I arrive in Madrid to meet any of my fellow students… Oh well! I can try and focus on sleeping so I’m not entirely jet-lagged when I arrive in Europe. On that note, I think most everything I need has either been purchased, or is on it’s way (neck pillow, eye mask, adapter, etc.) Preparing for this trip has almost been as exciting as dreaming about all the wonderful places I’m about to visit!