16/4/2018

It was 2 AM, I had about 3 hours of sleep when my alarm clock decided it was time to wake up again. I had booked a ticket for the 6:35 AM flight so I figured that 4 AM would be a pretty good time to be at the airport. I was so incredibly nervous about everything, the internship, the flight, the people, where I would stay. It was the first time I had to fly alone, not only that, it was the first time I had to take care of everything by my self. The check-in, the boarding, everything. Last time I had to fly school took care of everything and we just had to make sure we were there. So, responsibilities. I did manage to get to the right gate at the right time so, I think you can imagine I was proud of accomplishing at least that. Yes, I know I was very very early but man, I was nervous. 

I hopped on the plane, realized how lucky I was because there wasn't a baby/child seated next to me and I had officially started my journey. I never quite understood the complaint about having no leg space and cramped up seats on planes, I do now. I had a window seat so I had to shimmy past two seats to get to mine. It almost seemed impossible and I say almost because I did manage to get to my seat without hurting anyone, except for me. Those little armrest thingys in between seats hurt when you bump into them. But I made it, popped in my earbuds and decided that the Hamilton Broadway Cast Recording would be a good choice for this flight. We took off as the sun rose which gave me some awesome pictures. During the last 40 minutes, above Madrid, the plane started to rise and fall and I know that a bit of turbulence is normal but I am a plane newbie okay? Let me be worried about stuff but we made it, clearly, because I am writing about this.

At the airport, there was a lady waiting for me and we drove off in the pick-up truck. Right into a 3-hour search for a washing machine because the one they had was broken and they needed a new one. When I finally did get to the farm where I would spend 2 weeks I was in awe. The man driving me told me that there was no luxury or what so ever so I was expecting maybe a tent or something on the verge of collapsing but there was a solid house. No, there were no luxuries but you don't need them. You're outside all day and the time you do spend inside is when you're either sleeping or eating so who cares that there's a bare concrete floor and no fluffy carpets.

I got introduced to the group of girls who all volunteer and they will teach me what to do and how to do it. One of the girls showed me around and told me a little where the horses come from and the past they have. Some stories were very hard to listen to and even though I know that animal abuse is still a very real thing it was hard to believe that some people actually do things like this. There is one horse with cushing, this causes him to grow a lot of hair really fast. So if you'd normally lose and grow, let's say, 100 hairs each day, this horse would lose and gain 500. We (the girl showing me around and me) decided to help the poor thing get rid of his hair. and for those of you wondering, no it doesn't hurt. It's all loose hairs which you can brush off. Because of the hormonal disorder, there's a lot of fur. By the time we were finished, the entire floor was covered in white. Of course, I had to be the noob to get sunburned on the first day and my shoulders are bright red. 

In the evening/night, I sat outside and I was pleasantly surprised to see the effects of having no light pollution in the night sky. There are so many stars holy shit. There is a certain combination of stars I will probably recognize everywhere because I have seen them so much. I can see them when I am in bed at home, it felt good to see them here from Spain. 

 

I don't think I will be able to write every day because there is a lot to do here and I don't always have to opportunity to write. Pictures will be uploaded later because of the bad wifi we have here.