.....although I think this will just cover about the first 24--hours I mean--but there's a TV show that's called the title so I wanted to use it. Anyways I've finally made it Madrid, España! It was quite the ordeal. Right now I'm just hanging in my hotel room by myself--my roommate hasn't arrived in Madrid yet. I have time to kill and I'm at that point of being so tired I'm basically hyper and there's no way I could nap. Besides I'm pretty sure to avoid jetlag you're supposed to stay awake anyways.
So since I have the time I'd love to fill you all in on what's happened so far. I'll warn you this may go into detail but most likely my other posts won't be so much like a timeline.
Anyways! I had this idea to do a tally of bad and good of today simply because it was just a roller coaster kind of day with no brakes. So here goes!
Not so good: My Thursday morning started out early (5am). I'm the person who doesn't sleep when they're excited so I didn't end up staying asleep for very long.
Good: I was able to download one of my favorite Meg Cabot books in Spanish onto my Kindle for the flight--which I didn't really end up using because I mean the plane had awesome movies.
Good: My mom really helped me reduce the size of my pieces of luggage--something I had been fretting over for the last couple of days.
Bad to good: We left later than I had planned on but it actually worked out perfectly and I had more than enough time to get to my flight.
Interesting: My mom and I had planned to hit an Urban Outfitters before heading to the airport because I needed to replace a pair TOMS and take them to Spain with me. I attempted to navigate us to a UO that was on Broadway somewhere in what I think was supposed to be SOHO (is that even a place?) but I ended up taking us to Brooklyn. We drove through some pretty unique looking neighborhoods and some bad traffic before realizing the store wasn't at the address the GPS was taking us to. Thankfully GPS is something you can change and I eventually got us to the proper Brooklyn UO! I got my TOMS and we picked up and picnic type lunch from Trader Joe's just down the block before heading to the airport.
Bad: As I was unloading my suitcases from the car to head into the airport I was looking for my credit/debit cards because we thought we might need one for flight check-in. Lo and behold--not sure if that's used correctly--they were nowhere to be found. It seems when I was being responsible and making photocopies of them I forgot to take them out of the printer and put them in my purse so they stayed in Danville while I headed to Spain. :/
Not so great: So we parked at gate/terminal/lot 8 to check in for American Airlines because my flight info said American Airlines but I didn't think about the fact that in smaller print it said operated by Iberia. So that meant we had to jump on the tram thing to head back to a different terminal.
GOOD: The guy who weighed my checked bag let me put lots of more stuff in after he weighed it the first time. I'm pretty sure it was way more than 50 lbs but he didn't seem to care nor did he charge me. It really made my carry-ons more manageable. I'm so very thankful for that.
Good: The girl I sat next to on the plane was SO nice. She was helpful and friendly but not too friendly. She's from New York but her family live in Sevilla and some in Granada so she does now too. She was impressed that I had chosen Granada because so many students go to Madrid or Barcelona. She also told me that Granada has become very much of a young persons' city and that it's a great place. I'm glad that I sat next to her because it calmed me a lot.
Good: The movies that had on the plane included two that I missed seeing this summer but had really wanted to see so I watched The Hobbit in Spanish and then Iron Man 3 but that one I changed to English because I feel like only Robert Downey Jr. can be Tony Stark and that some weird Spanaird's voice over just wasn't going to cut it for the movie. Watching the Hobbit in Spanish was a pretty cool experience and I understood a lot more than I thought I would based on the vocabulary used in the movie.
Good: I managed to not hyperventilate during takeoff and even used the scary on plane bathrooms--something that I usually avoid at all cost because they really freak me out.
Good and bad: My plane landed at just before 6 and I got through customs and baggage claim by about 7am with no issues but nobody was going to even meet me at the airport until 10am. Waiting 3 hours was driving me a little stir crazy. Finally after 2+ hours of waiting in the lobby outside of baggage claim I happened to look at the doors where you come out of baggage claim and I saw it said Sala 11 y Sala 12. My info packet said that someone would meet me at Sala 1 so I was obviously in the wrong spot. I started to walk around and finally worked up enough courage to ask an airport employee for directions. I asked him in completely broken Spanish because I was so nervous and he responded in rapid fire Spanish. It was so fast and jumbled together that I was really only able to catch Terminal 1, free bus, across the street outside, and his gesture that showed me I wasn't anywhere near where I needed to be. At this point it's probably about 10am and the bus has a definite leaving time of 11am and I still wasn't exactly sure what I was supposed to do to get to terminal 1 and sala 1. I started walking outside crossed a street and looked to see a bus drive by that had T1, T2, T3 on a screen as well as gratis--the Spanish word for free. There were about at least 6 or 7 buses already parked but I had feeling I wanted the one I had just seen drive past but it had gone to the very end of the terminal and I was near the middle. I started booking it and saw it parked with its doors open. I still wasn't positive that this was the bus I wanted so I asked the driver in my broken Spanish and he shook his head yes. I lugged my suitcases onto the bus and got a standing spot so that I could hold onto my luggage. That bus ride, let me tell you. At one point in what I swear was a 3 mi bus drive--this place is even more spread out than JFK if that's a reference for anyone--the driver basically makes a complete circle and I flew to the other side of the bus because my luggage is basically heavier than me. I got some bruises on my arm trying to keep my luggage all together and not letting it run into anyone.
I'm not sure how to rate this: After the scary bus ride he lets us off at the end of terminal 1 so I start back tracking and I'm starting to see signs for Sala 1...it's at the complete other end of the Terminal...so I'm booking it because it's got to be getting close to 10:30am. I finally make it and I stand next to a girl who looks like she might be a student right outside of the doors coming from baggage claim. She looks at my luggage tag--with its ISA logo on it--and says she thinks she heard ISA people over there--pointing to a group of kids near the exit doors. I'm like 'success! I've done it!' so I walk over and ask a girl are you with ISA and she says yes so I join the rest of the group on the ground. Nobody is talking to anybody. It's like complete silence until once girl says quietly, "where's that other group going?" and someone answers her, "I think someone said Granada." I'm immediately beginning to question if I where I'm supposed to be. It takes me a good 5 minutes to work up the courage to ask the girl again if this is ISA Granada. She tells me no and points to the other group. So I walk over slowly and one girl says 'hi you going to Granada?' and I know I've finally accomplished it and made it to where I'm supposed to be. I breathe a sigh of relief as the girl asks me where I'm from and starts a conversation. I'm here. I made it and I'm going to be able to at least somewhat find my way.
Overall today was a GOOD day with just a few not so greats and bads tucked in there to keep it interesting! So far so good on the being/studying/living in Spain thing....
No comments:
Post a Comment