Jet Lag, Heatwave, and Smiles

Whether we like it or not, jet lag is often one of our first experiences abroad. No matter how well we plan, it is guaranteed to hit for us at least a day. This is always the case when I return to Spain. I admittedly did not get much sleep on our flight from Philadelphia to Madrid nor our connecting flight from Madrid to Seville. How could I, honestly? I was flying with a dozen students to my favorite place in the world—more on that later. Excitement was high, and you could tell. Fortunately, jet lag did not hold any of us back.

My tips for avoiding jet lag are:

• As soon as you get settled in your seat on the flight, change your clocks to the destination time. So instead of it being 7:05 pm in Philadelphia, tell yourself that it's 1:05 am.
• Sleep and rest as much as you can on the flight over.
• Drink lots of water!
• Stay up that entire next day, and do not nap! Go to bed at a regular time.

I shared these tips with our travelers, and I think that they tried to follow them for the most part. However, no matter what, I myself even always feel a little off the next day. No matter how tired I am from travelling, I always seem to wake up early that next day. After setting my clocks to Spanish time, trying to sleep on the plane, and staying up all day until bedtime, I woke up with eyes wide open at 6:00 am on Monday morning. I decided to take advantage of this and take a walk around my neighborhood before breakfast at my host family's apartment in the Nervión section of Seville. 

I have to say that our students have been troopers dealing with jet lag, the oppressive—yet dry—heat, and adjusting to a new city and culture these first couple of days, too. Today their enthusiasm and excitement were high in their first daty of class, during our orientation, and our afternoon activities exploring Seville.