El Viaje

Hi everyone! Here is my post that I wrote in Madrid's airport! I was there for 16/17 hours, so i had a lot of time on my hands :) I will post whats been going on since I've gotten to sevilla in a few days once i have more time! Hope all is excelente en Los Estados Unidos!

1/16/11  Monday 5pm Madrid time (11am US)

WOW! So I have been up for 28 hours as of now. Our flight was cancelled in Madrid due to fog and we don’t get on the next flight until 11:25pm. I probably won’t sleep until then just because I want to be able to go to sleep once I get to Sevilla. This means folks, for those of you who haven’t been doing the math in your head, I will have been up for (saying I get to bed by 230-3am at the earliest) 38hours! I’m so mentally and physically exhausted right now but am already having a really good time. I’ll start from the beginning of my trip and then catch you up with what I’m doing now.

So, I randomly got up at 7 am on Sunday because once I realized what day it was I couldn’t go back to sleep. Kinda like Christmas at our house. Alaina would wake up at 4am and we’d be ready to open presents by 430. Anyways, back to my story. So I woke up with butterflies but wasn’t as terrified as I thought I would be. Mom was being a nester and seriously reorganized our impeccably clean kitchen closet 4 times, begged us to let her make breakfast and literally was running circles around the house. Other than that, I couldn’t tell she wasn’t freaking out lol. We got to CVG around 1030. I have to tell amy that the little “get your own ticket thing” is a lot harder than you said! Haha my dad and I had the hardest time figuring it out, but the worker lady was really helpful and we ended up doing just fine. One let down was that I thought that mom and dad would be able to come back to the gate with me to wait for the plane that was coming around 1pm. However, since I wasn’t a minor anymore they couldn’t. So, I had to say my goodbyes before security check in. That was hard, so lets not talk about it! Anyways I had no idea what to do during security, and I must have looked extra suspicious checking out what other ppl were doing because instead of letting me walk through the thin metal detectors like everyone else, they made me come off to the side and go through this huge one and I had to put my feet in a wide stance and my hands above my head…Good thing I’m not a terrorist.

Anyways, the flight to JFK was fine and once I got to JFK I met up with a girl from Purdue and we met some other girls traveling over as well. This is the flight that I was able to get upgraded to first class, so of course I have to tell you all about it! Well before I met up with my Purdue friend, I went to the  Admirals Club (aka VIP). To get there, it’s like the secret room that you have to get to by secret elevator. Well, after asking like 3 people, I found it! Even after I was in the right place, I didn’t think I was. I thought I had walked into a secret Airport hotel.  You walk into this gorgeous marble floored, mahogany lobby area where there are 2 sweet little ladies ready to check you in. Once you’re in, you can go to any of the lounges where they have huge, plush leather chairs, tables with free computer use, and large tvs. I skipped the plush lounging area and headed straight to the bar. I had one free complimentary drink and wanted to get good use out of it. When I asked the bartender for a cranberry and vodka, he looked at me like I was maybe 15 years old (typical) but made it up quickly and got me my very strong drink. After that, I ended up going back down to meet with my friend and soon we were boarding. However,  I didn’t have to wait to board since business class boarded first. As soon as I walked in, the stewardess asked to take my coat and helped me get all situated in my seat. The seat was huge! I was able to sit cross legged and took off my shoes (everyone else did it too, I just followed their lead, promise my feet didn’t stink too bad momma). For awhile I thought I was going to be the only one, but soon a man came and sat by me. However, it wasn’t like we were squished together, we had a big arm rest in between us which was great. Also, I’m really glad that I sat next to him, because he had obviously done this before. I secretly (but probably not so secretly) followed his lead on where to get the tray and where to find the hospitality kit and such. The flight to Madrid was made so much easier because of my flight arrangements! I had my own tv in front of me that I could watch movies, tv shows, etc. I ended up watching Despicable Me and Iron Man 2. It was also nice because you got to lounge back your chair all the way and still see the TV. It was so relaxing! The 4 course meal was also amazing. I had shrimp, salmon, filet, bread rolls and a butterscotch sundae. Yay!

 I do have an EMBARRASSING MOMENT from the flight that I’m putting in all caps so if ppl just want the juicy stuff they can look for only the caps lol. Well, it was getting close to dinner time and the stewardess had placed our fancy trays in front of us. I figured the next thing she was bringing out were the knives and forks. It sure did look like it because she handed me something metallic looking with something white (I assumed a napkin) at the bottom. Well it turned out it was a hot towel and I grabbed the hot metallic prongs that she was holding onto the very hot towel. I kind of pulled my hand back with a look of shock. Then she said do you want a hot towel? Okkkk now I got it, so I said sure, but I wasn’t really sure what to do with it, so I just kind of juggled this scalding towel in my hands until the passenger sitting by me started wiping his face. I eventually wiped my face with it, but by the time I did the towel was cold!

                Once we got into Madrid at 6am, I waited for my friend and we trekked off to customs. It was so funny because we met up with all of the other students during customs check in. We literally ran into 30 American students kind of standing right outside of the line formation blocking everyone that was trying to get into the line. No one really knew what to do or where to go. Our group was very loud, obnoxious, and I think the guards thought we were stupid. Now I know how the American people got labeled as this! Luckily our flight wasn’t until 1150, because we literally were so lost in this airport. There were about 10 of us who didn’t have boarding passes for the next flight so we had to find a ticket printer. However, the airport was literally deserted and we didn’t see anyone to ask. Once we did find someone, our Spanish was put to the test. Between the group of us we were able to kind of get an answer of where to go to get our ticket. However, we still stood around for like 10 more minutes because we were scared that she had misunderstood us/or we had misunderstood her. Luckily, the communication channels worked and we were able to find the main area. However, the automatic printers didn’t work so we had to go to customer service. The guy that waited on me was very kind but spoke very fast compared to what I’m used to with my Spanish TAs at Purdue. Out of the whole sentence I heard the last part of :50. So I said yes that’s my planes time to Seville. Well he then goes on to tell me that I wasn’t scheduled to fly on there and couldn’t find me. It turns out he asked me if I was getting on the next flight at 850, not 1150. Shew! Once we got that figured out, things were great.

                 After all of the tickets were figured out, we met up with like 40 Americans all just kind of staring at the flight board and looking for their flight. Some of them had a flight at 830 and others had to wait longer. We ended up finding a café and got a drink and then waited for our gate number to show up. However, it became 1050 and it still had not been shown. By this time we were starting to get worried because there was no cancelled/delayed status next to the Seville flight. The guy that we continually were asking at the information kiosks kept telling us to wait and that the flight might be late. Finally, someone asked him at 1145 and he said, o well it’s cancelled. Then it was literally a mad dash upstairs to the main Iberica customer service to get in line. We ended up waiting in line for 4 hours (I’m now writing this at 830 pm and people are still in line, 9 hours later).  Although the flight cancellation stinks, its been really fun hanging out with all of the girls and I can already see a few that I’ll really like hanging out with!

                K, last paragraph for one last REALLY EMBARRASSING STORY. Well after we waited in line for 4 hours we were starving. We hadn’t had a meal since breakfast at 5am and it was 4pm. I went to just get a drink because I was dying of thirst. There was a line for that as well and the cashier was just trying to get people in and out. Well, I am my mother’s daughter and hate to think I’ve been ripped off, even in a foreign country. My drink was 2.38 Euro and I gave the man a 5. However, I only got change back. Hmm, I thought…that’s weird, I’m pretty sure I should get 2 euro back. I was so taken aback by the fact that I didn’t get the right amount back that I just kind of stood there. My initial reaction was to blurt out “hey, you owe me two dollars”, but it takes awhile to translate things in my head, and never correctly either. I ended up saying “te doy el dinero incorrect”. Basically saying “I gave you the wrong amount”. I knew right as soon as I said it I was wrong, so then I just blurted out in English that I gave him a 5 and needed 2 dollars back. He opened up the drawer, showed me the five and then showed me the 1 euro COINS that he gave me! UGHHHHH I was so embarrassed and just said ah lo siento and walked away! Hahah. I’m sure that’s not the last time something like that will happen so you guys will be treated to many more entertaining stories, no worries J

                *And now I am writing in my homestay! Iwill tell you all about this amazing city as soon as I get a chance to J